Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has reacted to a new interim report that exposed a concerning fact: the federal government is out to strangle Americans’ free speech.
The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a new interim report, exposing the troubling collusion between the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Big Tech platforms.
The key findings of the report include allegations that the federal government sought to deploy on-the-ground forces to fight election disinformation, increase so-called partnerships with third-party entities to avoid accusations of “government propaganda” and coordinate efforts to curb criticism in the event of getting caught.
In exclusive statements to MRC Free Speech America, House Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) slammed the concealment campaign. “Americans’ First Amendment rights are under attack by the Biden administration,” Jordan said. “The Weaponization Committee’s ongoing investigation into CISA shows that not only is the federal government colluding with Big Tech to silence disfavored speech, but it's also trying to cover-up unconstitutional activities.”
The 37-page report — titled “How a ‘Cybersecurity’ Agency Colluded with Big Tech and ‘Disinformation’ Partners to Censor Americans” — revealed never-before-seen evidence of how the federal government suppressed Americans’ free speech. The Department of Homeland Security, through CISA, facilitated efforts to increase censorship through third-party entities during the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm elections. CISA, the report highlighted, “funneled ‘misinformation’ reports from the government directly to social media platforms.”
The censorship effort was not limited to digital platforms. According to the alarming report, CISA flirted with the idea of deploying a national “rapid response team” to target on-the-ground election disinformation. CISA’s Election Security Director Geoff Hale called the proposal “fascinating.” According to internal memos obtained by the Judiciary Committee and the Weaponization Subcommittee, Hale specifically claimed, “[T]his is a fascinating idea that takes CISA’s existing operational responsibilities to consider MDM as part of its core mission set.” MDM is an acronym for CISA’s Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation official team, which according to the report was launched in 2021.
Amid lawsuits and potential imminent backlash, CISA officials even plotted a save-face campaign. A second email released in the report depicted CISA advisor and former CIA Assistant General Counsel Suzanne Spaulding warning her pro-censorship co-conspirators that they might get caught. She said, “It’s only a matter of time before someone realizes we exist and starts asking about our work. . .. I’m not sure this keeps until our public meeting in June.”
Republican leaders at the Subcommittee promised to further investigate the troubling interim report’s findings, which may be found in full here.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representative 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 CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
