House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) unveiled documents on Tuesday that suggest the Biden administration collaborated with Facebook to censor American voices, especially those expressing skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine. [Source]
These documents are part of the “Facebook Files” series that Jordan has been releasing since July.
Jordan highlighted that Robert F. Kennedy, a Democratic presidential primary contender against President Joe Biden, was also subjected to censorship. [Source]
Kennedy’s vocal doubts about the COVID-19 vaccine have made him a topic of debate and controversy. Chairman Jordan emphasized Kennedy’s stance in this debate, spotlighting efforts to mute his voice.
Drawing international attention was the U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). In their March 2021 report, CCDH identified Kennedy, along with 11 other individuals, as the “disinformation dozen,” claiming this group was behind a significant 65% of anti-vaccine content online. [Source]
Chairman Jordan countered this claim, describing the CCDH’s statistic as “disinformation.” He referenced data from Facebook, which suggested a much lower figure, with the mentioned group being responsible for only about 0.05% of such content.
The documents also highlight events that raise questions about the influence of foreign entities on U.S. governmental decisions. Internal Facebook documents from April 2021 show the platform’s employees preparing to brief CEO Mark Zuckerberg about pressure from the White House to clamp down on and remove profiles allegedly spreading vast amounts of vaccine misinformation.
Chairman Jordan shared these findings on X, accompanied by an email from Facebook. The email seemed to corroborate his concerns, suggesting the company was surprised that the Biden administration appeared to be placing undue trust in the CCDH’s potentially flawed statistics. [Source]
Jordan’s caption on the post stated: “Facebook was stunned that the Biden White House seemed to actually believe the CCDH’s obviously false stat and was relying on these foreign activists’ ‘data’ to shape pivotal governmental policy decisions.”