House Republicans Use Covid Response Hearing To Outline Biden Online Censorship Collusion

In a congressional hearing, where the spotlight was on the US government’s strategies against COVID-19, House Republicans shifted the focus towards an allegation that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment. The argument was that the administration employed undue influence on Big Tech companies, nudging them to censor social media posts, especially regarding COVID-19 discussions. The hearing, which took place on Wednesday, was orchestrated by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), the chairman of the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic. Wenstrup accentuated the need for a congressional counter-action against what he suggested was arm-twisting of Big Tech by the Biden administration to censor speech. The hearing provided a platform for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is jointly pursuing a federal lawsuit with his counterpart from Louisiana. The lawsuit aims to preclude the Biden administration from collaborating with tech behemoths like Google and Meta in regulating speech on social media. Bailey exposed the censorship of dissenting Covid opinions that were presented as evidence in Missouri’s lawsuit against the Biden Administration: “There was an active suppression campaign as detailed in email exchanges between, at a minimum, the White House and big tech social media corporations from March to May of 2021, as recited by one of the other members and offered as evidence in our suit that demonstrate that the target of the suppression was anyone that questioned the effectiveness of the vaccine.” Bailey talked about how the Biden administration exported its censorship demands to third parties: “The federal government itself…House Republicans Use Covid Response Hearing To Outline Biden Online Censorship Collusion