{"id":146656,"date":"2022-09-01T15:38:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T22:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=146656"},"modified":"2022-09-01T15:38:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T22:38:55","slug":"missouri-and-louisiana-attorneys-general-ask-court-to-compel-department-of-justice-to-produce-communications-between-top-officials-and-social-media-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=146656","title":{"rendered":"Missouri and Louisiana Attorneys General Ask Court to Compel Department of Justice to Produce Communications Between Top Officials and Social Media Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jefferson City, MO…Yesterday, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry filed a Joint Statement on Discovery Disputes, asking the Louisiana District Court to compel the Department of Justice to turn over communications between high-ranking Biden Administration officials from the White House, Department of State, FBI and others and major social media companies. The Department of Justice has already turned over communications between a number of federal officials and social media companies but has refused to provide communications between top-ranking officials and social media companies.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMissouri and Louisiana filed a landmark lawsuit back in May that seeks to expose how top Biden Administration officials allegedly colluded with social media companies to censor freedom of speech on a number of topics, including COVID-19. We won in court in July, and the Court required the Biden Administration to turn over communications between federal officials and social media companies,\u201d said\u00a0Attorney General Schmitt. \u201cWe have already received a number of documents that clearly prove that the federal government has an incestuous relationship with social media companies and clearly coordinate to censor freedom of speech, but we\u2019re not done. The Department of Justice is cowering behind executive privilege and has refused to turn over communications between the highest-ranking Biden Administration officials and social media companies. That\u2019s why, yesterday, we asked the Court to compel the Department of Justice to produce those records. We\u2019re just getting started \u2013 stay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The communications already provided by the Department of Justice to the plaintiff states show, as the joint statement points out, a vast \u201cCensorship Enterprise\u201d across a multitude of federal agencies. In response to Missouri and Louisiana\u2019s interrogatories, defendants identified\u00a045 federal officials\u00a0at DHS, CISA, the CDC, NIAID, and the Office of the Surgeon General (all of which are contained in either DHS or HHS) that communicate with social media platforms about \u201cmisinformation\u201d and censorship. The joint statement points out, \u201cBut in those responses, Defendants did not provide information about any federal officials at other federal agencies of whom they are aware who engage in such communications with social-media platforms about misinformation and censorship, though Plaintiffs had specifically asked for this highly relevant information. Defendants\u2019 document production, however, reveals that such officials at other federal agencies exist\u2014for example, their emails include extensive copying of officials at the Census Bureau, and they also include communications involving the Departments of Treasury and State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the Department of Justice\u2019s production, \u201cMeta, for example, has disclosed that at least 32 federal officials\u2014including senior officials at the FDA, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and the White House\u2014have communicated with Meta about content moderation on its platforms, many of whom were not disclosed in response to Plaintiffs\u2019 interrogatories to Defendants. YouTube disclosed eleven federal officials engaged in such communications, including officials at the Census Bureau and the White House, many of whom were also not disclosed by Defendants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The joint statement continues, \u201cThe discovery provided so far demonstrates that this Censorship Enterprise is extremely broad, including officials in the White House, HHS, DHS, CISA, the CDC, NIAID, and the Office of the Surgeon General; and evidently other agencies as well, such as the Census Bureau, the FDA, the FBI, the State Department, the Treasury Department, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. And it rises to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, including numerous White House officials. Defendants have objected to producing some of the most relevant and probative information in their possession.\u201d<\/p>\n

This \u201cCensorship Enterprise\u201d is proven by the Department of Justice\u2019s productions thus far, but the full extent of federal officials\u2019 collusion with social media companies on censorship is unknown until the Department of Justice produces further communications requested by Missouri and Louisiana.<\/p>\n

A senior Facebook official sent an email to the Surgeon General stating, \u201cI know our teams met today to better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward.\u201d This email chain follows the SG\u2019s \u201cmisinformation health advisory\u201d in July 2021:\u00a0https:\/\/ago.mo.gov\/docs\/default-source\/press-releases\/free-speech-pitch-thread-docs\/hhs-fb-email-1.pdf?sfvrsn=53bc4454_2<\/a><\/p>\n

The same senior official sent a later email to HHS and noted, “Thanks again for taking the time to meet earlier today.” Then, the official continued to discuss how Facebook is taking even more steps to censor freedom of speech:\u00a0https:\/\/ago.mo.gov\/docs\/default-source\/press-releases\/free-speech-pitch-thread-docs\/hhs-fb-exhibit.pdf?sfvrsn=55bd83df_2<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter scheduled a meeting to debrief top White House officials on \u201cvaccine misinformation.\u201d:\u00a0https:\/\/ago.mo.gov\/docs\/default-source\/press-releases\/free-speech-pitch-thread-docs\/twitter-vaccine-meeting-wh.pdf?sfvrsn=6599e359_2b<\/a><\/p>\n

There are several instances where Facebook wouldn\u2019t proceed with censoring freedom of speech on their platform until they had input, or a \u201cdebunking\u201d from the CDC. Twitter followed the same course in at least one email.<\/p>\n