The Biden administration conspired with Big Tech companies like Twitter, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Youtube, Instagram, and LinkedIn to censor specific viewpoints under the guise of preventing the spread of “misinformation” or “disinformation,” according to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeffrey Landry.
The Biden administration was ordered to promptly produce the records that the plaintiffs had requested as part of the discovery process by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in July. On August 2, Schmitt and Landry submitted discovery requests to the White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and its director, Anthony Fauci, as well as the former executive director of the Disinformation Governance Board Nina Jankowicz.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and its director, Jen Easterly, as well as the US government also received requests from the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Following the requests, a number of documents surfaced that showed 12 American agencies and more than 50 Biden administration employees had participated in a campaign of malicious social media censorship. Some government representatives, such as Fauci, disagreed with the plaintiffs’ requests for records and refused to respond to their inquiries, citing executive privilege as a defense.
The government argued that Fauci shouldn’t be obliged to respond to the plaintiff’s inquiries or produce data pertaining to his roles as head of NIAID and chief medical officer for Biden. The administration also tried to deny Jean-Pierre access to documents and answers. On Tuesday, however, Judge Doughty ended the deadlock by deciding that both Fauci and Jean-Pierre had to abide by the legal process and provide the requested records. Dr. Fauci’s communications would be relevant to the claims made by the plaintiffs regarding claimed suppression of information pertaining to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin as well as the effectiveness of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns. The statements Jean-Pierre made in his capacity as White House Press Secretary might be applicable to any of the plaintiffs’ situations.
“As we have said over and over again since the beginning of the administration in our battle against COVID-19, it has been critical for the American people to have access to factual, accurate, science-based information,” a Biden administration stated in defense of the administration’s actions. The official continued, “We believe in and support freedom of speech. We also feel it is crucial for all media platforms to provide genuine scientific information and battle misinformation and disinformation that can result in fatalities”.
The Great Barrington Declaration’s co-authors, Drs. Martin Kulldorff, Jill Hines, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, Jayanta Bhattacharya, and others – along with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, are also represented in the action, according to the case description of the organization that joined the lawsuit in August. Judge Doughty also allowed the plaintiffs’ request to speak with additional government representatives as part of Tuesday’s decision after considering their examination of the documents they had previously requested through a discovery request.
The government documents that were obtained, despite Fauci and Jean-Pierre’s refusal to abide by the initial discovery request, “unveiled an army of federal censorship bureaucrats, including officials arrayed at the White House, HHS, DHS, CISA, the CDC, NIAID, the Office of the Surgeon General, the Census Bureau, the FDA, the FBI, the State Department, and the Treasury Department.
The defendants named 45 individuals from five different federal departments as the people who spoke with social media corporations regarding censorship and misinformation. Emails and other papers made available by Meta, Twitter, and Google, revealed that a number of additional officials, including those from the White House and other federal agencies, were participating in the project.
In order to resolve the difficulties, the plaintiffs requested to file an updated case, allowing them to designate all the additional officials as defendants. According to them, the updated complaint will enable them to ask each of the officials who the Biden administration did not initially reveal for records and information. The plaintiffs have 30 days to file an amended lawsuit with the new agencies, according to the deadline set by Judge Doughty on Tuesday.
References:
https://nclalegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Doc.-72-Order-re-Discovery-Disputes.pdf
https://nclalegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Doc.-45-First-Amended-Complaint.pdf
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fauci-biden-lawsuit-social-media-free-speech/
