OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to the Hon. Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States - Opposing White House Censorship Plan

Letter

By: Claudia Tenney, Elise Stefanik, Robert Aderholt, Jodey Arrington, Jim Baird, Brian Babin, Gus Bilirakis, Ken Buck, Michael Cloud, James Comer, Jr., Warren Davidson, Scott DesJarlais, Scott Franklin, Morgan Griffith, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Ashley Hinson, Darrell Issa, Trey Hollingsworth III, Mike Johnson, John Joyce, Jacob LaTurner, Young Kim, Billy Long, Frank Lucas, Nancy Mace, Nicole Malliotakis, Carol Miller, Barry Moore, Blake Moore, August Pfluger, Guy Reschenthaler, Hal Rogers, Matt Rosendale, Maria Salazar, Pete Sessions, William Timmons, Jeff Van Drew, Tim Walberg, Steve Womack, Cliff Bentz, Rick Allen, Dan Bishop, Mike Bost, Mo Brooks, Jerry Carl, Kevin Brady, Steve Chabot, Tom Cole, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ron Estes, Chuck Fleischmann, Russ Fulcher, Carlos Gimenez, Matt Gaetz, Sam Graves, Mark Green, Brett Guthrie, Ronny Jackson, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Debbie Lesko, John Moolenaar, Markwayne Mullin, Troy Nehls, Dan Newhouse, Jay Obernolte, Gary Palmer, John Rose, Austin Scott, Chris Smith, Peter Stauber, Mike Turner, Beth Van Duyne, Ann Wagner, Randy Weber, Sr., Daniel Webster, Rob Wittman, Larry Bucshon, Ben Cline, Andrew Clyde, Dan Crenshaw, Jeff Duncan, Tom Emmer, Scott Fitzgerald, Mike Garcia, Tony Gonzales, Andrew Garbarino, Bob Gibbs, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar, Michael Guest, Diana Harshbarger, Kevin Hern, Jody Hice, Vicky Hartzler, Richard Hudson, Jr., Jim Jordan, Fred Keller, Bill Huizenga, David Kustoff, Tracey Mann, Lisa McClain, Mary Miller, Ralph Norman, Jr., Burgess Owens, Scott Perry, Adrian Smith, Bryan Steil, Mike Waltz, Brad Wenstrup, Steve Scalise, Troy Balderson, Ted Budd, Lauren Boebert, Neal Dunn, Randy Feenstra, Michelle Fischbach, Virginia Foxx, Mike Gallagher, Garret Graves, Jim Hagedorn, Marjorie Greene, Glenn Grothman, Bill Johnson, Trent Kelly, Doug Lamborn, Doug LaMalfa, Brian Mast, Tom McClintock, Dan Meuser, Devin Nunes, Greg Pence, Bill Posey, David Rouzer, John Rutherford, Victoria Spartz, Greg Steube, Van Taylor, GT Thompson, Jr., Fred Upton, Nikema Williams, Joe Wilson, Sr., Cathy Rodgers, Kevin McCarthy, Mark Amodei, Jim Banks, Kelly Armstrong, Jack Bergman, Michael Burgess, Vern Buchanan, Tim Burchett, Ken Calvert, Buddy Carter, John Carter, John Curtis, Madison Cawthorn, Byron Donalds, Robert Good, Anthony Gonzalez, Andy Harris, Clay Higgins, Chris Jacobs, Dusty Johnson, Mike Kelly, Jr., Julia Letlow, Barry Loudermilk, Bob Latta, David McKinley, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Alex Mooney, Patrick McHenry, Greg Murphy, Steven Palazzo, Tom Reed II, David Schweikert, Jason Smith, Lloyd Smucker, Tom Tiffany, Jackie Walorski, Bruce Westerman, Lee Zeldin
Date: July 26, 2021
Location: Washington, DC

President Biden:

We are concerned that your administration's actions are undermining First Amendment principles by pressuring private companies to censor free speech. On July 15, 2021, your press secretary, Jen Psaki, announced that your administration is "in regular touch with" social media platforms and "flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation." The federal government's ongoing efforts to pressure private companies to censor speech that it disagrees with is alarming and an affront to the First Amendment.

The Democrat Party has been attacking the First Amendment since day 1 of your administration. For instance, earlier this year, House Democrats sent letters to 12 Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) pressuring these companies to block certain conservative media outlets. In response, House Republicans sent a letter to the Acting Chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Jessica Rosenworcel, asking her to stand on the side of free-speech and denounce the behavior of these House Democrats. Unfortunately, the Acting Chair still has not responded to our request.

Your administration's efforts to pressure private entities to promote approved speech and censor disfavored speech undermines fundamental foundation of the First Amendment. It is the type of behavior we would expect from a Cuban dictator, not a President of the United States who is also the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

It is also clear from recent history that certain information related to COVID-19 that was once labeled as "misinformation" is now viewed quite differently. For example, until recently, Facebook would not allow any discussion on its platform about the lab leak theory, and for months your chief medical advisor denounced any suggestion that COVID-19 may have escaped the Wuhan lab. Presumably, your administration would have flagged content about the lab leak theory as "disinformation" and demanded social media companies suppress such speech. But you would have been wrong. This is the problem with your censorship mission. Not only are you attacking the First Amendment, but your "truth" might be wrong.

As staunch defenders of the First Amendment and free speech, our position is simple: the answer to speech you disagree with should be more speech, not less. As the President of the United States, you have a duty to defend the Constitution. Every American cherishes free speech, but your administration is attacking this fundamental right.

We urge you to abandon your censorship mission and ask that you respond to the following no later than August 2021:

1. Please provide a list of every social media company the Biden-Harris administration is working with to censor content your administration deems as "disinformation."

2. Please provide a complete list of the social media posts and content the Biden-Harris administration has flagged for social media companies to censor and identify which company such content was requested to be removed from.

3. Please provide a complete list of social media users the Biden-Harris administration has requested social media companies to suspend or ban and identify which company such requests were made of.

4. Please produce any written policy or plan outlining the Biden-Harris administration's censorship program.


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