Federal Government Censorship and Americans’ First Amendment Rights

Freedom of speech, including free speech on digital platforms, is a fundamental and vital part of democratic societies. The ability of Americans to publish, share, and receive information and opinions online is necessary to an informed citizenry and the functioning of American democracy. For that reason, throughout the 118th Congress, the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government conducted oversight of how and to what extent the executive branch coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech.¹ 

Through its oversight, the Select Subcommittee revealed the extent of the censorshipindustrial complex, proving that in 2021 the Biden-Harris White House “engaged in a covert scheme of censorship” that was “blatantly unconstitutional” by directly pressuring Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon to censor COVID-related speech, including true information and critics of the Biden-Harris Administration.² In addition to direct censorship,³ the Select Subcommittee also showed how multiple federal agencies used non-governmental entities to censor Americans by proxy.⁴ Finally, the Select Subcommittee demonstrated that the threat to Americans’ free speech does not end at America’s shores but increasingly emanates from foreign governments, including Brazil, the European Union, and Australia.⁵

The Select Subcommittee has not been idle in the face of these threats. The Select Subcommittee shared its shocking factual findings with both the court and the public,⁶ confronted foreign governments’ censorship threats,⁷ and developed legislative proposals to dismantle the federal government’s censorship regime at home⁸ and counter the censorship threat abroad.⁹ The Select Subcommittee’s work led a Big Tech executive to apologize for his company’s censorship and publicly commit to not do so again,¹⁰ and universities and other entities involved in the federal government’s censorship enterprise to shut down or significantly curtail so-called “disinformation research.”¹¹ The Select Subcommittee’s work signaled to all parts of the censorship-industrial complex in the U.S. and throughout the world that the U.S. Congress will fight to uphold every American’s Constitutional right to think and speak freely.
 

_{1 See Ryan Tracy, Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts, WALL ST. J. (July 28, 2023). 
2 STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE CENSORSHIP INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: HOW TOP BIDEN WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS COERCED BIG TECH TO CENSOR AMERICANS, TRUE INFORMATION, AND CRITICS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION (Comm. Print May 1, 2024); Murthy v. Missouri, 603 U.S. 43, 78, 105 (2024) (Alito, J., dissenting) (citing Interim Staff Report of the House Judiciary Committee, The Censorship-Industrial Complex: How Top Biden White House Officials Coerced Big Tech to Censor Americans, True Information, and Critics of the Biden Administration, (May 1, 2024)) 
3 See, e.g., id; STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE FBI’S COLLABORATION WITH A COMPROMISED UKRAINIAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY TO CENSOR AMERICAN SPEECH (Comm. Print July 10, 2023). 
4 STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND STAFF OF SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE WEAPONIZATION OF ‘DISINFORMATION’ PSEUDOEXPERTS AND BUREAUCRATS: HOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARTNERED WITH UNIVERSITIES TO CENSOR AMERICANS’ POLITICAL SPEECH (Comm. Print Nov. 6, 2023); STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE WEAPONIZATION OF CISA: HOW A “CYBERSECURITY” AGENCY COLLUDED WITH BIG TECH AND “DISINFORMATION” PARTNERS TO CENSOR AMERICANS (Comm. Print June 26, 2023); see also STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: HOW NSF IS FUNDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATED TOOLS TO CENSOR ONLINE SPEECH “AT SCALE” AND TRYING TO COVER UP ITS ACTIONS (Comm. Print Feb. 5, 2024). 
5 Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Uzra Zeya, Under Sec’y for Civilian Security, Democracy, & Human Rights, and Hon. Eileen Donahoe, Special Envoy & Coordinator for Digital Freedom, Dep’t of State (Nov. 21, 2024); Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Antony Blinken, Sec’y, Dep’t of State (Sept. 17, 2024); Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Uzra Zeya, Under Sec’y for Civilian Security, Democracy, & Human Rights, and Hon. Eileen Donahoe, Special Envoy & Coordinator for Digital Freedom, Dep’t of State (Aug. 15, 2024); STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH ABROAD AND THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S SILENCE: THE CASE OF BRAZIL, PART II (Comm. Print May 7, 2024); STAFF OF H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY AND SELECT SUBCOMM. ON THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE FED. GOV’T OF THE H. COMM. ON THE JUDICIARY, 118TH CONG., THE ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH ABROAD AND THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S SILENCE: THE CASE OF BRAZIL (Comm. Print Apr. 17, 2024); Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Uzra Zeya, Under Sec’y for Civilian Security, Democracy, & Human Rights, and Hon. Eileen Donahoe, Special Envoy & Coordinator for Digital Freedom, Dep’t of State (Apr. 17, 2024). 
6 Brief for Jim Jordan, et. al, as Amicus Curiae, Missouri v. Biden, No. 23-30445, at 17 (filed Aug. 7, 2023). 
7 See, e.g., Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary to Thierry Breton, Comm’r for Internal Markets, European Comm’n (Aug. 15, 2024); House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP), X (Aug. 16, 2024, 5:50 PM), https://x.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1824564435853197820; Letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary to Thierry Breton, Comm’r for Internal Markets, European Comm’n (Sept. 10, 2024). 
8 H.R. 4848, Censorship Accountability Act; H.R. 4791, Free Speech Protection Act. 
9 H.R. 9605, No Censors on our Shores Act; H.R. 9850, No Funding or Enforcement of Censorship Abroad Act. 
10 Letter from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, to Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary (Aug. 26, 2024). 
11 Id; Joseph Menn, Stanford’s top disinformation research group collapses under pressure, THE WASH. POST (June 14, 2024).}