Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul confronted FBI Director Christopher Wray Tuesday on whether the FBI paid Twitter roughly $3 million for content moderation on the platform.
Wray testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Tuesday and Paul pressed him on the “Twitter files” documents that appeared to show the FBI paid Twitter nearly $3.5 million to censor speech. (RELATED: FBI Headquarters Stonewalled Investigative Activity On Hunter Biden Ties To Ukraine, Former Prosecutor Testifies)
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“Did the FBI pay Twitter money to moderate content moderation?” Paul asked Wray.
“I’m not aware of us paying money to moderate content there or anywhere else,” Wray replied.
“What was the $3 million that the FBI gave that’s been revealed in the ‘Twitter files’ which has been characterized by those writing the ‘Twitter files’ as payment for content moderation?” Paul followed up.
“Are you aware of the payment?” Paul continued.
“I am not aware of that specific payment but I can tell you that when it comes to payments, going back well over four decades when we are required by federal law, when a company like in this instance a provider goes through expenses to produce information, we are required to reimburse them for those expenses,” Wray said.
Paul also confronted Wray on the FBI’s meetings with social media companies about Constitutionally protected speech outlined in the “Twitter files” documents. The “Twitter files” showed how the FBI coordinated with Twitter ahead of the 2020 election resulting in the platform censoring the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop reporting.
A group of independent journalists reported on the “Twitter files” after Elon Musk bought the platform and promised to restore free speech.
Musk renamed the platform X in July.