{"id":2359723,"date":"2024-10-25T16:41:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T20:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-expand-investigations-into-feds-censorship-cutouts\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T16:45:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T20:45:03","slug":"lawmakers-expand-investigations-into-feds-censorship-cutouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-expand-investigations-into-feds-censorship-cutouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Expand Investigations Into Feds&#8217; Censorship Cutouts"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/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%2Flawmakers-expand-investigations-into-feds-censorship-cutouts%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=2359723&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>In the past 24 hours, Congressional members have \u200drequested information regarding the government&#8217;s role in influencing private organizations to censor American citizens&#8217; online speech. Senator Eric Schmitt sent letters to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-level-republicans-push-back-on-big-tech\/\" title=\"State-Level Republicans Push Back on Big Tech\">major tech companies<\/a>, including Google and Meta, inquiring about any governmental pressures they may have\u2064 experienced\u2064 to limit user content. Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee \u2062is probing NewsGuard,\u200d a\u2064 government-funded organization that targets\u2064 media outlets diverging from Democratic narratives.<\/p>\n<p>Schmitt&#8217;s inquiry aims \u200dto \u200creveal whether these \u200bcompanies have altered their policies on election integrity and to gather \u200drecords of \u2063government \u2063requests for content removal.\u2064 This scrutiny comes\u2062 in light of investigations exposing how federal\u200c agencies have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-is-an-investigation-of-joe-biden-house-gop-leaders-vow-corruption-probe\/\" title=\"\u2018This Is An Investigation of Joe Biden\u2019: House GOP Leaders Vow Corruption Probe\">pressured social media platforms<\/a> to suppress posts that share unpopular \u2062or government-disfavored \u200dviews. The recent communication from Congress appears to be \u2063a response to a previous demand from several House Democrats for \u200cincreased censorship ahead of the 2024\u200d election.<\/p>\n<p>Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer highlighted that\u2062 federal \u2064agencies have \u2064increasingly employed counterterrorism methods to \u200dmonitor \u2064speech they classify \u2064as &#8220;misinformation.&#8221; \u2064The committee seeks documents\u200c from NewsGuard related to any contracts or grants\u200c from federal sources, showcasing the intertwined efforts of government and private entities in managing \u200dinformation online.  <\/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>In the last 24, hours members of Congress sent two letters seeking information on different ways government employees commandeer private organizations to censor Americans&rsquo; speech online.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., asked executives at Google, Instagram, Meta, Microsoft, Snapchat, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) to disclose government demands for removing Americans&rsquo; speech from their platforms. On Friday, the House Oversight Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/25\/house-oversight-committee-demands-more-docs-from-newsguard-in-probe-of-government-censorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sought additional records<\/a> from NewsGuard, a federally funded company that works to eliminate readership and revenue for outlets that report information that contradicts Democrat narratives.<\/p>\n<p>Schmitt&rsquo;s letter asks the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-joe-rogan-just-end-twitter-rogan-announces-hes-joined-twitter-competitor-gettr\/\" title=\"\u2018Did Joe Rogan Just End Twitter?\u2019: Rogan Announces He\u2019s Joined Twitter Competitor GETTR\">social media monopolies<\/a> to disclose if their companies have &ldquo;experienced any pressure from government actors to censor user content in recent weeks,&rdquo; to indicate whether they have &ldquo;changed any policies in the last twelve months related to election integrity,&rdquo; and to share any records these companies keep of when public officials and political parties ask the companies to limit or remove social media posts or hashtags.<\/p>\n<p>Investigative journalism such as the Twitter Files and litigation in <em>Murthy v. Missouri<\/em> have revealed that dozens of federal agencies all the way up to the White House constantly pressure social media monopolies to remove posts and hashtags sharing government-disfavored ideas. The platforms now also deploy artificial intelligence to limit politically disfavored speech online. These disfavored ideas include observations that men and women are different, concerns about election integrity, or information that indicates people from different cultures sometimes live differently.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>NEITHER THE TIMES NOR ANY OTHER MAJOR NEWS OUTLET HAS EVER ACKNOWLEDGED THE WHITE HOUSE SOUGHT TO CENSOR ME AND MAKE TWITTER BAN ME AT A SECRET MEETING IN APRIL 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Never. Not one. Not once. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/w7AXxKv4qd\">https:\/\/t.co\/w7AXxKv4qd<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexBerenson\/status\/1766964355382280701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Supreme Court failed to stop this government commandeering of private companies, which even involved <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/14\/6-takeaways-from-the-biden-admins-court-quest-to-keep-censoring-americans-online\/\">direct White House threats<\/a> of prosecution and bankruptcy if they didn&rsquo;t comply. Now <em>Murthy <\/em>is back in a lower federal court awaiting further discovery.<\/p>\n<p>Schmitt&rsquo;s letter responds to an October <a href=\"https:\/\/schiff.house.gov\/news\/press-releases\/schiff-demands-social-media-companies-take-action-in-advance-of-2024-election-to-address-spread-of-election-misinformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demand<\/a> from Spygate hoaxer Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and seven other Democrat representatives that <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">social media monopolies increase censorship leading<\/a> into the 2024 election. Schmitt <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/10\/02\/opinion\/john-kerry-says-first-amendment-is-the-enemy-as-elites-try-to-stamp-out-free-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">notes<\/a> that former Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry told the World Economic Forum weeks ago that &ldquo;our First Amendment stands as a major block&rdquo; to suppressing speech that Democrats dislike.<\/p>\n<p>Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer noted in his committee&rsquo;s letter that federal agencies have dramatically increased their use of counterterrorism tools against Americans&rsquo; speech in recent years, falsely describing disagreement with the government as &ldquo;misinformation&rdquo; and &ldquo;disinformation.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s common for federal agencies to task allegedly private nonprofits and companies such as NewsGuard with such efforts. Such entities are not subject to the First Amendment or open records laws.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;For example, one search of government grants and contracts from 2016 through 2023 revealed that there were 538 separate grants and 36 different government contracts specifically to address &lsquo;misinformation&rsquo; and &lsquo;disinformation,&rsquo;&rdquo; Comer wrote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From Newsguard the House committee seeks &ldquo;documents and communication &hellip; related to all past and present contracts with or grants administered by federal government agencies or any other government entity, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-dispute-over-trumps-former-dc-hotel\/\" title=\"Supreme Court to Hear Case on Trump&#039;s Former DC Hotel.\">including foreign governments<\/a>.&rdquo; The Federalist, along with The Daily Wire and the state of Texas, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/12\/06\/state-of-texas-joins-the-federalist-daily-wire-in-suing-the-federal-censorship-industrial-complex\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has sued<\/a> the State Department for devoting counterterrorism funding to NewsGuard&rsquo;s censorship tools, which it deployed against Americans&rsquo; speech. These tools have directly targeted The Federalist and The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>   <a title=\"View 10.24.2024 - Big Tech CEO Letter - Final on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/784265916\/10-24-2024-Big-Tech-CEO-Letter-Final#from_embed\">10.24.2024 &ndash; Big Tech CEO Letter &ndash; Final<\/a> by <a title=\"View The Federalist's profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/274202084\/The-Federalist#from_embed\">The Federalist<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Joy Pullmann is executive editor of The Federalist. Her new book with Regnery is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/false-colors-the-flag-of-our-occupation-joy-pullmann\/20707173?ean=9781684515875\">False Flag: Why Queer Politics Mean the End of America<\/a>.&#8221;  A happy wife and the mother of six children, her ebooks include &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/b\/R1JL\">Classic Books For Young Children<\/a>,&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/b\/a2Jzp\">101 Strategies For Living Well Amid Inflation<\/a>.&#8221;      An 18-year education and politics reporter, Joy has testified before nearly two dozen legislatures on education policy and appeared on major media including Tucker Carlson, CNN, Fox News, OANN, NewsMax, Ben Shapiro, and Dennis Prager. Joy is a grateful graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs who identifies as native American and gender natural.  Joy is also the cofounder of a high-performing Christian classical school and the author and coauthor of classical curricula.    Her traditionally published books also include &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Education-Invasion-Parents-Control-American\/dp\/1594038813\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1486730068&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=education+invasion\">The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids<\/a>,&#8221; from Encounter Books.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress seeks info on government censorship of online speech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":519,"featured_media":2359724,"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\/10\/45259347801_b9d847399b_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[6371,8327,3673],"class_list":["post-2359723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-censorship","tag-investigations","tag-lawmakers"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/45259347801_b9d847399b_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359723","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\/519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2359723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2359724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}