When in doubt, point to the Trump administration! That’s what White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did Wednesday when she dodged a question about alleged collusion between the Biden administration and social media companies to suppress free speech.
When asked about the allegations Jean-Pierre said, ”[t]here has been ongoing work dating to the Trump administration to provide accurate COVID information where folks get their news.”
Her comments came in response to Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence who asked Jean-Pierre about a pending lawsuit. Attorneys general Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana brought a lawsuit against members of the Biden administration for allegedly colluding with Big Tech to censor so-called “misinformation.”
Lawrence asked: “A federal judge ordered that you have twenty days to turn over your emails communicating with social media companies over misinformation and disinformation. What are those emails going to show?”
Jean-Pierre said she could not comment on ongoing litigation. However, she cited the “critical” need for Americans to have “access to factual, accurate, science-based information” and claimed that communications between the federal government and social media companies began under the Trump administration.
“[E]nsuring that any media platforms have access to [sic] latest information on a once-in-a-generation pandemic is something that has been done since the earliest days of the pandemic, beginning under the former president,” Jean-Pierre said.
The White House press secretary’s comments downplayed the fact that the Biden administration has consistently and publicly encouraged Big Tech censorship.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration was “regularly making sure social media platforms are aware of the latest narratives dangerous to public health.”
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy made similar comments in July 2021 when he declared so-called “misinformation” a “serious threat to public health” and urged Americans to “help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed that the Biden administration created the infamous – now paused – Disinformation Governance Board to combat the “threat” of disinformation and misinformation.
The lawsuit filed by Schmitt and Landry names several Biden administration officials, including Psaki, Murthy and Mayorkas.
The Schmitt/Landry lawsuit specifically cited original research from Media Research Center and its unique CensorTrack database to support its case.
MRC Free Speech America published its findings of 646 cases in CensorTrack of pro-Biden censorship in April. The study tallied cases of censorship starting during Biden’s presidential candidacy and ending about a year into his presidency.
MRC Researcher and Video Creator Paiten Iselin and Staff Writer and Researcher Catherine Salgado contributed to this report.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
