Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is raising awareness about the vast and egregious network of government and private entities that worked together to silence free speech.
Schmitt, in a lengthy March 12 X thread, urged his fellow Republicans to continue “dismantl[ing]” the “shadowy network of NGOs, tech groups and governments working to censor the Left's enemies.” While censorship efforts were ongoing for years, the Biden administration in particular “mobilized an unholy alliance of government power, taxpayer dollars, NGOs and Big Tech companies.” They operated as “one cohesive class” of censors with a revolving door between private and public entities.
He said funding for censorship came pouring in from seemingly every major U.S. agency, including the “FBI, CIA, NSA, DHS, State Department, Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, USAID—even FEMA.” The issue, however, extended beyond America to other Western nations.
The senator added that the Biden administration brought on individuals who previously worked for both the Barack Obama administration and Big Tech companies. “[T]hese worlds [were] in constant communication,” Schmitt wrote, citing then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s boast about flagging content for Facebook to target.
Schmitt also accused federal government officials of pressuring platforms to “transform their algorithms to suppress ideas they disliked.” He shared screenshots of an email sent to YouTube from Biden’s digital director Rob Flaherty who complained about content causing “vaccine hesitancy” and noted that these concerns came from the “highest … levels of the WH.”
The senator also cited the now-shut-down interagency Global Engagement Center, infamous for its funding of censorship outfits like the Global Disinformation Index, which developed blacklists that cut revenue to right-leaning outlets. Schmitt additionally called out the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), for its "’counter-disinformation’ coalition with powerful outside censorship groups.”
Schmitt added that the U.S. is not alone in its censorship efforts. Many Western governments have been similarly “creating, funding or coordinating with powerful outside groups to clamp down on (mostly right-wing) dissent,” Schmitt argued.
He also accused American entities of specifically coordinating with European entities. “At least 23 US-funded NGOs, nonprofits and ‘disinformation’ groups have received nearly $15.5 million of your tax dollars to help enforce the EU's draconian new Digital Services Act,” Schmitt said. One of the organizations was NewsGuard, which MRC has exposed for extreme leftist bias.
Schmitt lauded President Donald Trump for “dismantling the government arm of this regime,” noting that censorship programs have been shut down or effectively defunded. But he explained that with shadowy pro-censorship NGOs still in operation, free speech is not yet safe in the United States.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
