{"id":2251341,"date":"2024-05-23T15:07:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T19:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-schmitt-probes-federal-censors-efforts-to-trample-americans-speech\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T15:13:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T19:13:17","slug":"exclusive-schmitt-probes-federal-censors-efforts-to-trample-americans-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-schmitt-probes-federal-censors-efforts-to-trample-americans-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Schmitt Investigates Attempts by Government Censors to Suppress Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-schmitt-probes-federal-censors-efforts-to-trample-americans-speech%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2251341&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Missouri Senator demands federal agencies turn over records on silencing\u200b online views labeled as &#8220;disinformation&#8221; \u200bbefore the 2024 election. Republicans seek transparency on FBI and DHS coordination with Big Tech to suppress content. This move raises concerns over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-rep-murphy-house-republicans-introduce-resolution-to-protect-free-speech-academic-freedoms\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Murphy, House Republicans Introduce Resolution To Protect Free Speech, Academic Freedoms\">free speech violations<\/a> and government overreach in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/substack-payment-processor-backs-off-demand-for-bank-data-from-mrna-scientist\/\" title=\"Substack Payment Processor Relinquishes Request for Bank Info From mRNA Scientist\">online censorship battle<\/a>. Missouri\u200b Senator calls for\u2063 transparency in government efforts to censor online content \u2062labeled as &#8220;disinformation&#8221; ahead of the 2024 election. Concerns over free speech violations and government overreach are heightened as Republicans seek clarity on FBI and DHS collaboration with Big Tech to suppress information.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Missouri\u2019s junior senator is demanding federal agencies provide records related to their renewed efforts to censor online comments they claim contain \u201cdisinformation\u201d ahead of the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<p>In a May 22 letter obtained by The Federalist, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt demands that FBI Director Christopher Wray and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas divulge materials relevant to their agencies\u2019 coordination with Big Tech to suppress information government employees deem unfavorable to the federal government. The request cites remarks earlier this month from Virginia Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Warner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextgov.com\/cybersecurity\/2024\/05\/cisa-fbi-resuming-talks-social-media-firms-over-disinformation-removal-senate-intel-chair-says\/396360\/?oref=ng-next-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">let it slip<\/a> that the FBI and DHS\u2019s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are working with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ga-poll-watcher-it-expert-non-trump-supporter-affidavit-sudden-surge-of-20000-mail-in-votes-for-biden-in-early-hours-on-nov\/\" title=\"GA Poll Watcher, IT Expert, Non-Trump Supporter Affidavit: Sudden Surge of 20,000 Mail-In-Votes For Biden In Early Hours On Nov\">social media companies<\/a> to, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextgov.com\/cybersecurity\/2024\/05\/cisa-fbi-resuming-talks-social-media-firms-over-disinformation-removal-senate-intel-chair-says\/396360\/?oref=ng-next-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NextGov\/FCW<\/a> described, \u201cremov[e] disinformation on their sites as the November presidential election nears.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1447545829\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2585c95193e1b5da2ec9b87e623a2093 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2585c95193e1b5da2ec9b87e623a2093\"><\/div>\n<p>An FBI representative later <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/08\/fbi-confirms-its-restarting-online-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirmed<\/a> to The Federalist the agency has, in fact, resumed communications with Big Tech platforms. A CISA spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis activity between the government and social media companies runs contrary to the fundamental beliefs of our nation,\u201d Schmitt wrote. \u201c\u2026Resuming this egregious practice demonstrates this Administration\u2019s insatiable desire to stop at nothing to trample the free speech rights of millions of Americans in order to maintain power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schmitt cited numerous examples of the federal government\u2019s censorship-industrial complex, including the notorious Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). According to a November <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/11\/07\/government-censorship-op-targeted-the-federalists-mollie-hemingway-sean-davis-during-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interim report<\/a> released by House Republicans, the EIP is a \u201cconsortium of \u2018disinformation\u2019 academics\u201d spearheaded by the Stanford Internet Observatory that coordinated with DHS \u201cto monitor and censor Americans\u2019 online speech\u201d leading up to the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>Created \u201cat the request\u201d of CISA \u2014 which critics refer to as the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/09\/30\/these-house-republicans-voted-to-fund-cisas-criminal-censorship-and-election-interference\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nerve center<\/a>\u201d of the federal government\u2019s censorship operations \u2014the EIP allowed federal officials to \u201claunder [their] censorship activities in hopes of bypassing both the First Amendment and public scrutiny.\u201d As documented in the interim report, this operation <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/11\/07\/government-censorship-op-targeted-the-federalists-mollie-hemingway-sean-davis-during-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attempted<\/a> to censor \u201ctrue information, jokes and satire, and political opinions\u201d and sent targeted posts from prominent conservative figures to Big Tech companies for censorship.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c09866d3d6a487a22d0eb28354d94af1 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c09866d3d6a487a22d0eb28354d94af1\"><\/div>\n<p>The Federalist\u2019s Mollie Hemingway and Sean Davis are among those the government censorship campaign targeted.<\/p>\n<p>Schmitt also highlighted how the federal government \u201csignificantly entangled itself to influence and pressure social media companies\u2019 decisions\u201d ahead of the 2022 elections. He noted the FBI\u2019s role in \u201cestablish[ing] a \u2018command\u2019 process in which it would flag posts and content that it deemed disinformation with social media companies,\u201d which he noted \u201coften targeted the voices of American citizens and their posts about the 2022 election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor this Administration to resume efforts with social media companies to control constitutionally protected speech months before the 2024 election is beyond comprehension,\u201d the senator writes.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to representing Missouri in the U.S. Senate, Schmitt served as the Show Me State\u2019s attorney general. In that role, he filed a lawsuit alongside then-Louisiana AG and now-Gov. Jeff Landry in 2022 alleging that the Biden administration\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/07\/07\/12-times-the-biden-white-house-colluded-with-big-tech-to-throttle-free-speech-according-to-missouri-v-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">collusion<\/a> with Big Tech to suppress Americans\u2019 online speech violates the First Amendment. U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty agreed, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/07\/05\/judge-bars-biden-administration-from-colluding-with-big-tech-to-censor-free-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">issuing<\/a> a preliminary injunction on July 4, 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/documents-shed-light-on-biden-white-house-meeting-on-voter-registration-with-left-wing-activists\/\" title=\"Insights from Biden White House Meeting on Voter Registration with Activists\">barring federal agencies<\/a> from colluding with Big Tech to censor posts they don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-baa2f5357f5e12d74fa5786885e68be5 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-baa2f5357f5e12d74fa5786885e68be5\"><\/div>\n<p>In his ruling, Doughty wrote, \u201cIf the allegations made by Plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States\u2019 history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/courts-strike-blow-against-white-houses-social-media-censorship-opinion-1826831\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">upheld<\/a> Doughty\u2019s injunction in September. While the initial ruling did not include CISA, the court later issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/10\/05\/fifth-circuit-corrects-critical-error-in-prior-ruling-to-shut-down-deep-state-censorship-tactic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">corrected ruling<\/a> to also prevent CISA from colluding with Big Tech to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-confirms-its-restarting-online-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" title=\"FBI to Resume Online Censorship Efforts Before 2024 Election\">squash free speech online<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govexec.com\/oversight\/2023\/10\/supreme-court-ends-restrictions-federal-agency-contacts-social-media-firms\/391434\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lifted<\/a> the Fifth Circuit\u2019s injunction in October, effectively allowing the federal government\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/10\/26\/5-examples-of-the-illegal-government-censorship-scotus-just-allowed-to-resume\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censorship operations<\/a> to resume while it considers the merits of the case. SCOTUS is expected to issue a final ruling on the merits of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/murthy-v-missouri\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Murthy v. Missouri<\/a><\/em> this summer.<\/p>\n<p>In closing his letter, Schmitt demanded Wray and Mayorkas divulge information about their agencies\u2019 renewed collusion with Big Tech companies, including the exact date upon which such communications resumed, \u201call and any safeguards established by the Administration to protect the First Amendment rights of American citizens,\u201d all safeguards to protect the \u201cpolitical speech of potential political opponents of President Biden,\u201d and \u201ca list of topics that the Administration deems misinformation or disinformation,\u201d among other records.<\/p>\n<p>Wray and Mayorkas have until June 3 to fulfill Schmitt\u2019s requests, according to the letter. <\/p>\n<p>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" title=\"5-22-24 Sen. Schmitt Correspondence Re Censorship of 2024 Election\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/embeds\/735441086\/content?start_page=1&#038;view_mode=scroll&#038;access_key=key-QQCdyKBOLkfkJw3rxfnJ\" tabindex=\"0\" data-auto-height=\"true\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.7729220222793488\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"   margin: 12px auto 6px auto;   font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;   font-style: normal;   font-variant: normal;   font-weight: normal;   font-size: 14px;   line-height: normal;   font-size-adjust: none;   font-stretch: normal;   -x-system-font: none;   display: block;\"><a title=\"View 5-22-24 Sen. Schmitt Correspondence Re Censorship of 2024 Election on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/735441086\/5-22-24-Sen-Schmitt-Correspondence-Re-Censorship-of-2024-Election#from_embed\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">5-22-24 Sen. Schmitt Corres\u2026<\/a> by <a title=\"View The Federalist's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/274202084\/The-Federalist#from_embed\" style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Federalist<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2060dbb607ba45095a02d3a121753028 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2060dbb607ba45095a02d3a121753028\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Missouri Senator presses for records on government censorship of online comments for alleged &#8220;disinformation&#8221; before the 2024 election. Senator Eric Schmitt&#8217;s letter dated May 22, obtained by The Federalist, requests transparency from FBI Director Christopher Wray and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2251342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Eric_Schmitt_53069410943.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Eric_Schmitt_53069410943.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}