“Twitter Files” journalist Michael Shellenberger said Thursday that FBI Director Christopher Wray “misled” Congress on the scope of the FBI’s coordination with social media platforms to censor speech online.
Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi, another “Twitter Files” journalist, testified Thursday before the House Select Subcommittee on Weaponization, where Shellenberger questioned Wray’s October testimony on the FBI’s relationship with social media platforms. (RELATED: Dan Goldman Suggests Hunter Biden Laptop Was ‘Manipulated’ By Russia, Rudy Giuliani)
“Notably, Secretary Mayorkas and Director Wray both testified that their agency personnel complied with the law and did not violate First Amendment rights by targeting constitutionally protected speech on social media platforms,” Republican Florida Rep. Greg Steube asked the journalists.
“Is it fair to say that Secretary Mayorkas and Director Wray lied to congress when they told Senator Paul that their agency personnel did not target constitutionally protected speech?”
“I think it’s fair to say they misled Congress, I can’t be sure of their intention,” Shellenberger replied. “They’re wrong that those agencies weren’t involved in demanding censorship by the social media platforms.” He made the same accusation in an article he wrote on substack following DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Wray’s testimony.
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul pressed Wray on the FBI’s relationship with social media platforms when Wray testified before the Senate in October. Wray admitted to Paul that the FBI is reshaping its behavior with social media companies because of the ongoing Missouri v. Biden free speech lawsuit set to be heard by the Supreme Court.
It’s up to Congress to act and ensure the government is serving the interests of all Americans, not targeting them.
🎥:@RepGregSteube pic.twitter.com/n49cwc0qtN
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) November 30, 2023
Shellenberger described how FBI agents flagged content to Twitter warning the platform the content violated its terms of service, as revealed by the “Twitter Files” internal documents. Most notably, the FBI pressured Twitter to censor speech ahead of the platform’s decision to censor the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story.
The “Twitter Files” reporter went on to mention the work by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff to flag content and the DHS’ role in creating the Election Integrity Project (EIP), a third party affiliate of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a DHS subdivision. (RELATED: DHS Subdivision Quietly Deleted Video Urging Americans To Report Covid ‘Disinformation’ From Family Members)
CISA and EIP flagged speech for Twitter and Facebook to censor ahead of the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm elections, according to the House Judiciary Committee.
Former President Donald Trump was among those targeted by CISA, the committee found.