{"id":471186,"date":"2021-05-04T14:50:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=471186"},"modified":"2021-05-04T15:03:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T19:03:11","slug":"california-officials-worked-with-big-tech-to-censor-election-misinformation-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-officials-worked-with-big-tech-to-censor-election-misinformation-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: DOCUMENTS: Facebook And Twitter Were Told By Biden Campaign What To Censor On Social Media"},"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\">32<\/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%2Fcalifornia-officials-worked-with-big-tech-to-censor-election-misinformation-on-social-media%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=471186&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>California state officials pressured tech companies to censor social media posts about the 2020 election \u2014\u00a0informed in part by daily \u201cmisinformation\u201d briefings from a consultant tied to the Biden campaign \u2014 according to documents from the California secretary of state.<\/p>\n<p>Officials from California Secretary of State Alex Padilla\u2019s office complained to major social media companies about posts containing \u201cmisinformation regarding the administration of California\u2019s elections\u201d and were able to pressure several platforms into removing content officials found objectionable, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/press-releases\/ca-state-officials-big-tech\/\">according<\/a> to records obtained by watchdog group Judicial Watch through the California Public Records Act.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary of state\u2019s office combed through social media for problematic posts, even flagging content from users with tiny followings and videos that had only a couple thousand views. In some cases, it appeared to offer no other reason for flagging the content than that the officials disagreed with the opinions expressed.<\/p>\n<p>One such tweet claimed that the Twitter user was staying with a friend in California who had received two ballots in the mail. The tweet stated that \u201ca system of mass mail outs does not work as there are many mistakes and high potential for fraud. This is especially evident in blue states because Democrats have terrible leadership and love to cheat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its report of the tweet, the office stated, apparently falsely, that the tweet had claimed California ballots \u201cwill all have errors due to registered voters receiving mail ballots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At least 31 times, the California secretary of state\u2019s office requested that specific posts be removed. At least 24 of those times, the social media company removed the post or attached a misinformation warning.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the office\u2019s aggressive push was Jenna Dresner, senior public information officer for the secretary of state\u2019s Office of Election Cybersecurity. Her unit tracked social media posts and saved the posts that officials deemed misinformation in an internal database. The platforms monitored included Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Google-owned YouTube, and Citizen, an app that alerts users about potentially dangerous incidents near them.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, SKDKnickerbocker, a communications firm that works with dozens of Democratic politicians, provided Padilla\u2019s office with \u201cMisinformation Daily Briefings\u201d that flagged posts on a slew of platforms, the documents showed.<\/p>\n<p>SKDKnickerbocker compiled the briefings almost daily during September for Padilla\u2019s office. The firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skdknick.com\/thank-you-to-all-of-our-political-clients\/\">touts<\/a> its work with Biden for President along with other prominent Democrats as well as Demand Justice, which supports expanding the Supreme Court, and pro-abortion group Emily\u2019s List.<\/p>\n<p>In one email, Dresner complained to Facebook about an Instagram video in which participants claimed California Governor Gavin Newsom \u201cchanged everyone\u2019s voting status to automatic, permanent mail in votes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned for the spread of this misinformation as it already has upwards of 40K views,\u201d she wrote, adding that because of the pandemic, California sent active, registered voters a mail ballot for the 2020 election only.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis does not change individuals voter preferences permanently and this misrepresentation of the method to vote\/register this year has the potential for voter suppression and confusion,\u201d Dresner wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook responded about an hour later confirming that the video had been removed for violating Facebook\u2019s Community Standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPost from this morning was removed (and fast!),\u201d Dresner celebrated in an email to colleagues soon afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary of state\u2019s office also reported tweets from users who said they planned on trying to vote twice.<\/p>\n<p>On September 24, the secretary of state\u2019s cybersecurity office reported as containing misinformation a Judicial Watch video posted two days earlier, according to an internal chart from the office. The office complained to YouTube that the head of a \u201cconservative group\u201d was \u201calleging Democrats benefit from incorrect voter rolls and ballot collection.\u201d The video \u201cmisleads community members about elections or other civic processes and misrepresents the safety and security of mail-in ballots,\u201d the office wrote in its complaint.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton discussed his group\u2019s 2019 federal lawsuit settlement with Los Angeles County that required the county to begin the process of cleaning up voter rolls. Officials did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement, but <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/66ee694e83d047d5bad19ed4d8ba0418\">agreed<\/a> to try to contact people on the \u201cinactive voter\u201d list to see if they had moved or died.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judicialwatch.org\/election-integrity-crisis-dirty-voter-rolls-ballot-harvesting-mail-in-voting-risks\/\">video<\/a> was removed from YouTube three days later.<\/p>\n<p>Another tweet that was reported and entered into the database urged, \u201caudit every California ballot\u201d and stated the user\u2019s opinion that \u201celection fraud is rampant nationwide and we all know California is one of the culprits. Do it to protect the integrity of that state\u2019s elections.\u201d Several other posts urged Californians to vote in person because \u201cdropboxes are unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some of the people who posted the flagged content reportedly had questions when they learned that their posts had been targeted by the state. Freddy Brewster, a Cal Matters journalist who authored a December <a href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/politics\/votebeat\/2020\/12\/california-worked-with-social-companies-to-remove-election-misinformation\/\">report<\/a> about the office\u2019s internal database, told the secretary of state\u2019s office that he had spoken to two of the people who posted flagged content.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth individuals wanted to know how their posts ended up being labeled misinformation and how, given their relatively small following, they came to the attention of the Office of Election Cybersecurity?\u201d Brewster wrote in an email to Padilla\u2019s office that was included in the documents.<\/p>\n<p>An internal email thread showed officials expressing concern about Brewster and discussing how to handle his questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not necessarily comfortable with his line of questions and the additional doors that this will open,\u201d wrote Paula Valle, the secretary of state\u2019s chief communications officer at the time, adding that she would \u201csimply like to give him a statement about what our goal is and leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Officials also griped about Facebook taking two weeks, \u201cway too long,\u201d to respond to a request that content be removed. Sam Mahood, Padilla\u2019s press secretary at the time, remarked that they should raise the issue with Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Twitter appeared eager to officially partner with state governments on combating misinformation. In August 2019, Twitter streamlined its process for state officials to report content, according to an email from Maria Benson, director of communications for the National Association of Secretaries of State.<\/p>\n<p>The California secretary of state\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California state officials pressured tech companies to censor social media posts about the 2020 election \u2014\u00a0informed in part by daily \u201cmisinformation\u201d briefings from a consultant tied to the Biden campaign &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471186","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}