Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) took to X/Twitter on Friday to reveal that internal emails show the Government Affairs teams at Google and its YouTube subsidiary had acknowledged that they were “seeking to work closely with the Biden administration on multiple policy fronts.”
“To appease the Biden White House, Big Tech gave into the federal government’s relentless pressure campaign to censor Americans’ speech, including true information,” Rep. Jordan said at the beginning of a thread posted to X/Twitter on Friday.
THE YOUTUBE FILES PART 2.
To appease the Biden White House, Big Tech gave into the federal government’s relentless pressure campaign to censor Americans’ speech, including true information.
YouTube capitulated first; Facebook caved next.
Thread: https://t.co/BzAt7jeHgU
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
Jordan went on to explain that the House Judiciary and Weaponization Committee “obtained internal Google & Facebook docs revealing which Big Tech companies buckled first under pressure from the Biden White House to censor Americans’ posts, including true statements, jokes, memes, and opinions.”
“And once YouTube (Google) relented to censoring more content, the Biden White House used that as leverage to further increase the pressure on Facebook to do the same,” he added.
And once YouTube (Google) relented to censoring more content, the Biden White House used that as leverage to further increase the pressure on Facebook to do the same.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
“Remember how the Biden White House was “outraged” that Facebook didn’t censor a meme?” Jordan asked in a follow-up post.
“In that same April 2021 ‘hour long call,’ Biden White House Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt warned Nick Clegg, Facebook’s President for Global Affairs, that ‘YT has made significant advances to remove content leading to vaccine hesitancy whilst [Facebook has] lagged behind,’” the congressman explained.
In that same April 2021 “hour long call,” Biden White House Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt warned Nick Clegg, Facebook’s President for Global Affairs, that “YT has made significant advances to remove content leading to vaccine hesitancy whilst [Facebook has] lagged behind.” pic.twitter.com/pbvxFtEk6y
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
Jordan said that the Biden administration “praised Google for censoring Americans while criticizing Facebook.”
“In an internal Facebook email obtained by [the House Judiciary and Weaponization Committee] Clegg described his call with the Biden White House regarding censorship,” the congressman said.
“The email reveals that Nick Clegg—former UK Deputy Prime Minister—tried to reason with the Biden White House that, under America’s First Amendment, ‘removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US,’” Jordan added.
The email reveals that Nick Clegg—former UK Deputy Prime Minister—tried to reason with the Biden White House that, under America’s First Amendment, “removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US.” pic.twitter.com/gtRbI1Ua7u
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
Jordan went on to explain that “the Biden White House was unmoved,” and responded to Facebook saying that the company needed to be like Google and YouTube and censor more.
“In response to the White House’s demands, Clegg asked his colleagues at Facebook to check whether the content is available on YouTube because the White House’s ‘assumption is that [YouTube] would never accept something like this,’” Jordan said.
In response to the White House’s demands, Clegg asked his colleagues at Facebook to check whether the content is available on YouTube because the White House’s “assumption is that [YouTube] would never accept something like this.” pic.twitter.com/mRfQncI75b
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
The congressman added that Facebook and Google/YouTube “relented” to the White House’s pressure, because “the companies had other policy priorities that they feared the White House could use as leverage against them.”
Facebook executives warned that they had “bigger fish to fry,” Jordan said.
Facebook executives warned that they had “bigger fish to fry.” pic.twitter.com/Fefh2ZSD1m
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
“Meanwhile, the Google/YouTube Gov’t Affairs team cautioned that they were ‘seek[ing] to work closely with [the Biden] administration on multiple policy fronts,’” Jordan explained in a follow-up post.
He added that “the gatekeepers of the modern town square relented — they censored Americans’ true speech and even jokes — all to appease the censors in the Biden White House.”
And so the gatekeepers of the modern town square relented—they censored Americans’ true speech and even jokes—all to appease the censors in the Biden White House.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
Jordan concluded his thread, saying that the House Judiciary and Weaponization Committee are investigating the matter involving the Biden White House “trying to obstruct our investigation and hide its role in censoring Americans.”
“Yesterday, we issued deposition subpoenas to two senior Biden White House officials, Rob Flaherty and Andy Slavitt, who were central to communicating the Biden White House’s censorship demands,” Jordan said.
Yesterday, we issued deposition subpoenas to two senior Biden White House officials, Rob Flaherty and Andy Slavitt, who were central to communicating the Biden White House’s censorship demands. https://t.co/eVwNMAqKyA
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2023
As Breitbart News reported, the House Judiciary Committee says Biden White House worked with Google-owned YouTube to censor American speech regarding the coronavirus and vaccine.
These revelations come about one year after the “Twitter Files” were released, showcasing evidence of government having worked with employees of Big Tech to censor American speech.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.