Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) demanded answers from former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci on the Biden administration's relentless drive to censor the COVID-19 lab leak theory online.
During a June 3 Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing, Fauci fielded questions on gain-of-function research, horrific experiments involving puppies, and collusion between Big Tech and the government. Jordan specifically pressed Fauci over government pressure on Facebook’s parent company Meta to censor the lab leak theory, among other topics. Jordan twice confronted Fauci with internal Facebook admissions of censorship following Biden administration pressure.
“In our study on the censorship of the Biden Administration working with Big Tech, I want to read you a WhatsApp message from Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Can we include that the White House put pressure on us to censor the lab leak theory,’” Jordan read to Fauci. Jordan went on to emphasize that this occurred only a few months into the Biden Administration. The congressman added, “[Meta executives are] certainly feeling the pressure to downplay any lab leak theory and go with the natural origin theory.”
Jordan followed with another damning example of Facebook acknowledging government pressure:
“Here’s another email to Mark Zuckerberg, it says subject line, ‘COVID misinformation Wuhan Lab Leak Theory. In response to public pressure and tense conversations with the new administration, we started removing five COVID claims, including the lab leak theory.’ Mr. Zuckerberg responds, ‘This seems like a good reminder that we compromise our standards due to pressure from an administration in either direction we often later regret it.’”
Last year, Jordan released the Facebook Files on X (formerly Twitter) providing evidence on the extent of the pressure the government exerted on getting Zuckerberg’s Big Tech behemoth to bend to its will. The released documents included an April 2021 email from a Facebook employee confirming the Biden regime’s scheme against free speech. “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House and the press to remove more COVID-19 vaccine discouraging content,” an unnamed employee told Zuckerberg and former Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Jordan wasn’t the only lawmaker to grill Fauci over the government’s collusion with Big Tech to censor speech that went against the Biden narrative on the pandemic.
During the hearing, Rep. Rich McMormick (R-GA) also spoke out against the censorship of so-called COVID-19 disinformation. "In 2020, I was censored. My medical license was threatened because I disagreed with bureaucrats. Literally taken off the internet as a person who is treating patients with leading edge technologies."
McMormick went on a tear against Biden Administration bureaucrats who thought they knew what was best for his patients and who were willing to censor all opposing opinions. “My opinions were relegated to conspiracy, misinformation by so-called health care experts, who had never treated a patient throughout the entire pandemic.”
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
