{"id":2317352,"date":"2024-08-01T08:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T12:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-ramps-up-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/"},"modified":"2024-08-01T08:19:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T12:19:55","slug":"fbi-ramps-up-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-ramps-up-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Ramps Up Censorship Efforts Ahead Of 2024 Election"},"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\">18<\/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%2Ffbi-ramps-up-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election%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=2317352&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>According to a recent memo dated\u2062 July 12, 2024,\u200c the FBI is \u2063significantly \u200bincreasing \u200dits efforts \u200dto censor information ahead of the 2024 presidential election through enhanced coordination with social media companies. \u2063This move follows a quiet operation that began in February 2024, aimed primarily at addressing what\u200c the Biden administration \u200dclassifies \u2063as \u2063\u201cforeign malign influence\u201d (FMI) information, in light \u200cof a Supreme Court ruling that purportedly undermined \u2063First Amendment\u2064 rights. <\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice memo outlines a new standardized approach for the FBI&#8217;s collaboration with social media platforms to share FMI threat information, which allows for regular meetings to discuss potential threats and maintains First Amendment considerations. The acknowledgment \u200cof \u201cforeign malign influence\u201d has\u200c raised concerns, particularly\u2064 given past incidents where true \u200binformation,\u2062 such as the Hunter Biden laptop \u2064story, was mischaracterized as \u2064disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>In a controversial move just before the 2020 election, 51 ex-intelligence officials falsely \u200cclaimed \u2062the Hunter \u2063Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, a narrative \u2062fostered\u2062 by Biden&#8217;s campaign. Although the FBI had authenticated the laptop prior to the election, it warned social media companies \u200babout potential Russian misinformation, causing platforms\u200b like Twitter and Facebook to suppress the related news. This sequence \u200bof events highlights concerns about governmental overreach \u2064into information censorship and the\u2063 impact on free speech, especially following the Supreme Court\u2019s recent rulings.  <\/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<div>\n<p>The FBI is ramping up its censorship efforts ahead of the 2024 presidential election by increasing its coordination with social media companies after having started a quiet operation in February to censor information, according to a recent memo.<\/p>\n<p>A Department of Justice (DOJ) <a href=\"https:\/\/oig.justice.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/24-080.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memo<\/a> dated July 12, 2024, from Associate Deputy Attorney General George D. Turner, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/fbi-to-resume-regular-meetings-with-social-media-companies-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">states<\/a> that following the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision in <em>Murthy v. Missouri<\/em>, the Biden administration has sought to censor information it deems to be &ldquo;foreign malign influence&rdquo; (FMI) information. That June decision obliterated the First Amendment&rsquo;s right to free speech.<\/p>\n<p>Following the Supreme Court&rsquo;s stay in October 2023 of a 5th Circuit injunction restricting the FBI&rsquo;s collaboration with Big Tech, the DOJ &ldquo;began developing a standardized approach for sharing FMI information with social media companies that continued to appropriately account for First Amendment considerations,&rdquo; the memo states.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI began using the standard operating procedure in &ldquo;early February 2024&rdquo; and &ldquo;actively sharing FMI threat information with social media companies on a continuing basis,&rdquo; the memo explains, adding, &ldquo;As part of that strategy, FBI will resume regular meeting in the coming weeks with social media companies to brief and discuss potential FMI threats involving the companies&rsquo; platforms.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The memo further states that the DOJ&rsquo;s Justice Manual includes a &ldquo;framework&rdquo; for the DOJ to follow when deciding whether to &ldquo;disclose FMI operations&rdquo; &mdash; such as if alleged &ldquo;foreign influence operations&rdquo; are purportedly spreading &ldquo;covert foreign government propaganda or disinformation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But alleged &ldquo;foreign malign influence&rdquo; often isn&rsquo;t so. <\/p>\n<h2>Federal Agencies Censored True Info in 2020<\/h2>\n<p>Just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, 51 former &ldquo;intelligence officials&rdquo; signed onto a letter falsely suggesting the bombshell Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. The letter was &ldquo;set in motion&rdquo; by then-senior adviser to Biden&rsquo;s campaign Antony Blinken, according to former CIA Deputy Director <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/04\/21\/ex-cia-official-blinken-prompted-infamous-intel-statement-calling-hunter-biden-laptop-russian-disinfo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michael Morrell<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The laptop had been <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/22\/fbi-knew-hunter-bidens-laptop-was-authentic-a-year-before-pressuring-big-tech-to-censor-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">authenticated<\/a> by the FBI as early as November 2019, however, and has since been used as <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/12\/hunter-biden-trial-is-a-conviction-of-every-deep-state-lie-about-hunters-laptop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">evidence<\/a> against the Biden son in a federal gun case.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the FBI&rsquo;s knowledge of the laptop&rsquo;s authenticity, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-is-ramping-up-censorship-efforts-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" title=\"FBI Is Ramping Up Censorship Efforts Ahead Of 2024 Election\">agency warned social media companies<\/a> of so-called &ldquo;Russian propaganda&rdquo; and &ldquo;hack-and-leak operations&rdquo; by &ldquo;state actors.&rdquo; Almost immediately, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/12\/03\/twitter-files-confirm-big-tech-leftists-suppressed-hunter-biden-laptop-story-ahead-of-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefdrlst.wpengine.com\/2020\/10\/14\/facebook-is-now-officially-censoring-the-new-york-posts-hunter-biden-bombshell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a> began throttling the reach of the story. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg later <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/confirmed-fbi-colluded-with-big-tech-to-prevent-voters-from-learning-about-hunter-bidens-laptop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitted<\/a> that his platform suppressed the story following the FBI&rsquo;s warning.<\/p>\n<h2>Supreme Court Guts First Amendment<\/h2>\n<p>The Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-411_3dq3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> 6-3 in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/21\/8-big-takeaways-for-free-speech-in-landmark-murthy-v-missouri-censorship-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Murthy v. Missouri <\/a><\/em>that the federal government can continue its collusion with Big Tech to censor and stifle speech it dislikes. Louisiana and Missouri sued the Biden administration after it &ldquo;began coordinating with social media giants to censor posts [it] deemed unfavorable, even if said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-allows-feds-censorship-plot-ahead-of-2024-election\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Allows Feds&#039; Censorship Plot Ahead Of 2024 Election\">posts contained factually correct information<\/a>,&rdquo; my colleague Shawn Fleetwood <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/26\/scotus-green-lights-feds-big-tech-censorship-scheme-ahead-of-2024-election\/\">explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[READNEXT:[READNEXT:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/26\/the-supreme-court-is-not-going-to-save-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Supreme Court Is Not Going To Save You<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing. <\/p>\n<p>Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who authored the majority decision, falsely portrayed Facebook&rsquo;s censorship efforts as &ldquo;measures to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-lets-the-foreign-interference-crowd-keep-peddling-hoaxes\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Lets The &#039;Foreign Interference&#039; Crowd Keep Peddling Hoaxes\">counter foreign interference campaigns<\/a>.&rdquo; But there was nothing &ldquo;foreign&rdquo; about the laptop, nor was it the product of a Russian disinformation campaign. <\/p>\n<p>In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the actions of the Biden administration are &ldquo;blatantly unconstitutional, and the country may come to regret the Court&rsquo;s failure&rdquo; to rule in such a way.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Officials who read today&rsquo;s decision together with <em>Vullo<\/em> will get the message,&rdquo; Alito wrote. &ldquo;If a coercive campaign is carried out with enough sophistication, it may get by. That is not the message this Court should send.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FBI is intensifying its censorship initiatives in preparation for the 2024 presidential election by enhancing its collaboration with social media platforms, following the initiation of a discreet operation in February aimed at controlling information, as revealed in a recent memo. A July 12, 2024 memo from Associate Deputy Attorney General George D. Turner indicates that after the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling in Murthy v. Missouri, the Biden administration has been attempting to suppress what it considers &#8220;foreign malign influence&#8221; (FMI) information. This June ruling significantly undermined First Amendment rights related to free speech.<\/p>\n<p>After the Supreme Court stayed a 5th Circuit injunction that limited the FBI&#8217;s partnership with major tech companies in October 2023, the DOJ began formulating a standardized method for sharing FMI information with social media firms while still considering First Amendment implications. The FBI implemented this standard operating procedure starting &#8220;early February 2024,&#8221; actively sharing FMI threat data with these companies on an ongoing basis and planning regular meetings to discuss potential threats related to their platforms.<\/p>\n<p>The memo also notes that the DOJ\u2019s Justice Manual provides guidelines for determining whether to disclose FMI operations\u2014particularly concerning alleged foreign influence efforts spreading covert propaganda or disinformation from foreign governments. However, many claims of &#8220;foreign malign influence&#8221; may not be accurate.<\/p>\n<p>In reference to past events, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, a group of 51 former intelligence officials signed a letter incorrectly asserting that Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop was part of Russian disinformation efforts\u2014a letter reportedly initiated by Antony Blinken during his time as senior adviser on Biden\u2019s campaign according to former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell. Despite being authenticated by the FBI as early as November 2019 and later used against Hunter Biden in a federal gun case, social media companies were warned about supposed &#8220;Russian propaganda,&#8221; leading them to limit coverage of this story significantly.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court&#8217;s decision in Murthy v. Missouri ruled against Louisiana and Missouri\u2019s lawsuit challenging government collusion with Big Tech for censoring unfavorable posts\u2014even if those posts contained factual information\u2014stating that plaintiffs lacked standing. Justice Amy Coney Barrett characterized Facebook\u2019s censorship actions as responses to foreign interference campaigns; however, there was nothing foreign about Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop or its origins.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Samuel Alito dissented strongly against this ruling, arguing it represented blatant unconstitutionality and warned that future coercive campaigns could evade scrutiny if conducted skillfully enough\u2014a message he believed should not be conveyed by such decisions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2317353,"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\/07\/26405895567_48c8abb8ba_k-e1722478712644.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[32431,6371,5591,32311],"class_list":["post-2317352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-2024-election","tag-censorship","tag-fbi","tag-free-speech"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/26405895567_48c8abb8ba_k-e1722478712644.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317352","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\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2317352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2317353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2317352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2317352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2317352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}