The broad scope of censorship that Team Biden's now defunct and Orwellian "Ministry of Truth," which was officially known as the Disinformation Governance Board, planned to undertake has been exposed.
Documents obtained by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) via the Freedom of Information Act show that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that the agency could regulate speech related to “the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and the efficacy of Covid shots, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine” as well as “irregular immigration.”
Jen Easterly, who heads the DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, extended her agency’s mandate over critical infrastructure to include “our cognitive infrastructure.” The resulting censorship efforts included combating “malinformation” – described as information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”
Law professor Jonathan Turley noted that he had "testified earlier on this effort."
"So DHS asserted the authority to target viewpoints on racial justice, Ukraine, and other political subjects, including views based on fact but viewed as misleading in context," Turley noted in a Sept. 22 analysis.
Chief U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty on July 4 stated that the Biden team’s censorship efforts constituted “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” Those words are part of a 155-page opinion granting a temporary injunction, requested by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, to prevent White House officials from meeting with tech companies about social media censorship.
"Yet, Democrats have gone all in on censorship, blacklisting, and even red-baiting efforts," Turley noted.
The July 4 decision "came six months after I testified before Congress that the Biden administration used social media companies for 'censorship by surrogate,' " Turley wrote. The court found "that the evidence overwhelmingly shows systematic violation of the First Amendment by the Biden administration."
Turley continued: "From racial justice to Covid to Ukraine, these subjects involve core political speech. Yet, the Biden administration felt that it had the right to monitor and combat opposing views in these areas."
In the first censorship hearing in the House, Florida Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz criticized Turley for offering “legal opinions” without working at Twitter.
Turley said he "later noted that it was like saying a witness should not discuss the contents of the 'Pentagon Papers' unless he or she worked at the Pentagon. Wasserman Schultz tried to portray the Twitter Files allegations as mere opinions; she cut me off when I tried to explain that the Twitter Files contents — like those of the Pentagon Papers — are 'facts,' while the implication of those facts are opinions."
The documents obtained by the AFPF reveal "there are additional facts showing the massive scope and effort targeting opposing viewpoints. Yet, Democratic members continue to oppose further investigation into these efforts. More importantly, the Biden administration appears to be using every means to conceal the scope of its efforts. Why? The public should know the range of subjects and claimed authority of these government programs," Turley wrote.
"This controversy goes to the very core of our constitutional values in protecting free speech," Turley added. "The effort to conceal these efforts and claims reflects the unease of the Biden administration is telling the public what it has been doing secretly in its name."
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