Louisiana AG Helps Uncover Federal Plan To Police Internet Speech
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has teamed up with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in an effort to pushback on censorship across social media platforms in the US. According to leaked documents, they're already shedding light on some questionable practices.
The origins of the lawsuit are rooted in the COVID-19 pandemic; more specifically the response of Federal officials, and social media companies. It was originally filed in May of 2022, and has been slowly winding it way through the system. The two Attorneys General had won a ruling in July that allowed them to gather discovery and documents from federal officials and social media companies.
In their lawsuit, the Attorneys General asserted that federal officials and social media companies engaged in collusion to suppress free speech across social media platforms.
Now, this week, a bombshell report was dropped from The Intercept. The report shows that leaked documents expose plans between government officials and social media companies to silence voices on their platforms. The documents referenced in the report show some incredible links between officials and social media companies. Including numerous meetings, requests, and confirmations of social media companies following up on actions suggested by federal officials.
The Intercept lists these as specific "key takeaways' from their report:
- Facebook created a special portal for DHS and government partners to report disinformation directly.
- DHS plans to target inaccurate information on “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”
- Though DHS shuttered its controversial Disinformation Governance Board, a strategic document reveals the underlying work is ongoing.
- The FBI agent who primed social media platforms to take down the Hunter Biden laptop story continued to have a role in DHS policy discussions.
- DHS, the FBI, and several media entities are having biweekly meetings as recently as August.
You can read all of the key takeaways, and the full report here.
This report comes on the heels of numerous reports where government officials monitored social media accounts, and acted upon what they saw there. Including one Texas woman who was visited by authorities after social media posts.
It must be kept in mind that the bombshell report from The Intercept is based on leaked documents. So even though they are the product of the lawsuit from Louisiana and Missouri's AGs, they're not officially presented by them yet. That means we're still waiting to hear what it is that those lawyers make of this. It also means we don't even know every detail they've uncovered yet.