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Major Government Entity Follows US Lead Against Infamous CCP-Tied App

The European Union is the latest government entity to ponder canceling a Chinese government-tied app. Soon after President Joe Biden signed a bill giving TikTok a choice between Chinese divestment and a ban in the U.S., European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took up the same question, according to Politico EU. Asked about the possibility of a TikTok ban during a European Union (EU) candidate debate, von der Leyen replied, “It is not excluded.” This comes as TikTok already faces multiple EU probes. Von der Leyen then bragged that the Commission had been “the very first institution worldwide to ban TikTok on our corporate phones,” adding, “We know exactly the danger of TikTok.” Other candidates at the debate did not commit either way, Politico reported. The outlet also noted that von der Leyen has avoided using the app during her campaign. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, and multiple reports claim data sharing with Chinese employees, raising security concerns. Both the EU and TikTok have an anti-free speech record, but TikTok’s Communist China ties could still land it in even more hot water in Europe. Politico noted two EU probes into TikTok. The first regarded a feature rewarding users who interacted with the TikTok Lite app. The Digital Services Act (DSA) probe triggered TikTok’s suspension of the feature. Another probe under the DSA is reportedly investigating whether or not TikTok failed to protect minors on the app. This probe could have a final penalty of temporary suspension of the app. Conservatives are under attack. Contact TikTok via email at communitymanager@tiktok.com and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Tit for Tat? Apple Censors US Social Media Apps at Request of Chinese Gov’t After TikTok Ultimatum

Did Apple just help China retaliate against America’s possible TikTok ban? Apple has long invested heavily in Chinese markets, and, based on a recent report, the company is willing to exercise censorship to maintain those markets. Bloomberg reportedon April 18 that Apple Inc. had removed at least four social media services from its Chinese App Store, including two Meta-owned apps. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which Bloomberg called “one of the world’s most rigid internet censorship regimes,” demanded that Apple remove the apps over alleged “national security” concerns. Apple complied just after President Joe Biden signed a bill forcing TikTok to either relinquish its Chinese communist government ties or leave the country. The process of both bans have been ongoing, however. Bloomberg explained, “The orders come on the heels of a cleanup program Chinese regulators initiated in 2023 that was expected to remove many defunct or unregistered apps from domestic iOS and Android stores.” Mobile app developers were reportedly required to complete registration with the CCP by the end of March or be forced to cease operating. The censored apps are Meta’s Threads and WhatsApp, along with Signal and Telegram. In a statement obtained by Bloomberg, Apple claimed that it disagreed with the CCP’s demands but had to follow them. “We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree. The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps from the China storefront based on their national security concerns,” Apple stated, per Bloomberg. “These apps remain available for download on all other storefronts where they appear.” The dictatorial CCP’s “Great Firewall” has long banned foreign social media apps, including Facebook and Twitter (now X). Asia-Pacific news site The Diplomat, noted that Chinese users can be sentenced to years in prison for criticizing CCP officials. American companies’ operations in Communist China continue to be controversial, as do the operations of Chinese companies in America. President Joe Biden signed a bill a week ago that gives TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance a choice between selling TikTok or having the popular app banned. The CCP owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in ByteDance, and multiple reports claim Chinese employees have access to U.S. TikTok user data, raising national security concerns.  Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

7 Times Big Tech Censored Content Exposing Radical Islamic Extremism

Big Tech has not only run cover for leftists, but, over the years, it has censored content exposing radical Islamic extremism. From 2018 to April 2024, individuals discussing or providing evidence on radical Islam have found themselves facing various forms of censorship on Big Tech platforms. These include financial censorship, deleted content and locked accounts. From communist Chinese government-tied TikTok to Google, Meta, PayPal and Amazon, below are seven examples of Big Tech censoring information on radical Islamic extremism and its destructive aftermath. Instagram and TikTok targeted videos exposing Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities.Soon after the devastating Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli civilians triggered an ongoing conflict, actor Nathaniel Buzolic accused Meta-owned Instagram and communist Chinese government-tied TikTok of censoring content that served to shield radical Islamic extremism. Buzolic told Fox News that Instagram shut down his account no fewer than three different times for videos about the Hamas atrocities. He also said TikTok accused him of spreading “false information” and took down a video the actor shared of a child being kidnapped in Gaza. TikTok actually even boasted about removing 500,000 videos related to the Hamas-Israel war. Buzolic, who is strongly pro-Israel, insisted that “pro-Palestinian propaganda” cleverly manipulates Big Tech platforms. TikTok’s parent company is ByteDance, in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controls a board seat and maintains a financial stake. Google’s chatbot downplayed evidence of radical Islamic terrorists raping Israeli women. MRC Free Speech America exclusively caught Google’s biased artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Gemini, whitewashing the sexual violence carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7. When asked about documented evidence of Hamas rape of Israelis during the heinous terror attack, Gemini pontificated, “Some people believe that these allegations are credible, while others believe that they are politically motivated.” A Google spokesperson subsequently confessedGemini gave the wrong response and needed to be fixed, stating, “Gemini got this wrong and missed the mark on this important and sensitive topic.” Facebook censored show for exposing threat of radical Islamic terrorism in the U.S. Meta-owned Facebook censored Front Page Magazine Editor and Glazov Gang show host Jamie Glazov’s account in April over an interview headlined “Oct. 7 Coming to the USA?” Glazov and his guests talked about reports that terrorists have infiltrated America due to the border crisis. In contrast to this censorship, Meta’s Oversight Board issued a 2023 decisionthat the term “shaheed” or martyr, often used by Muslims to refer to individuals killed while engaging in terrorism, was usually protected by freedom of expression. But Glazov, according to Front Page Magazine, was accused of violating “community standards” and threatening “the security of people on Facebook.” YouTube removed a video of the 9/11 radical Islamic terrorism attacks on the 20-year anniversary. Google-owned YouTube removeda video posted on Sept. 11, 2021 by ACT for America associate Emma Blair. The videodisplayed footage from the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, along with archived audio recordings of people trapped both in the Twin Towers and on the hijacked planes. In a notice to Blair, YouTube claimed that the video violated its violent criminal organizations policy, though the platform added it wouldn’t be levying a strike against her channel. YouTube later reversed its decision, and restored the video to Blair's channel. Amazon de-listed a book on alleged subversive radical Islamic extremist activity. In Sept. 2023, Amazon removed RealClear Investigations reporter Paul Sperry's 2008 book titled “Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington.” Users who click the link that formerly led to his book, are met with a notice reading, “Sorry we couldn't find that page[.] Try searching or go to Amazon's home page.” Sperry decried the censorship on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “Amazon has secretly de-listed my bestselling book, 'Infiltration' (exposing how Saudi Embassy set up terror fronts and mosques around the Beltway) after I broke stories about the conflicts and biases of the Nat'l Editor & Fact Checker of the Wash Post, owned by AMAZON.”  PayPal and GoFundMe financially censored a website focused on reporting radical Islamic terrorism. PayPal shut down the account for Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch in 2018, Spencer told MRC Free Speech America. “PayPal banned Jihad Watch in 2018 but reinstated us after a public outcry,” Spencer stated. He suggested that this was only one of multiple instances of Big Tech censorship against the site, however. GoFundMe also censored Jihad Watch, banning the site from utilizing its services. Spencer further detailed that other platforms, including Amazon, Google, Patreon, Facebook and Twitter, have also censored the website. Front Page Magazine says Google restricted its advertising revenue over a report on a Muslim terrorist attack. Front Page recently reported that Google Ads censored the magazine when it rejected the outlet’s application to use the Google AdSense advertising program. The tech giant reportedly accused Front Page of “dangerous or derogatory content,” according to a March 2024 FrontPage Magazine report. The outlet reported that one of the articles Google objected to was a 2021 piece, “Remember The San Bernardino Fourteen,” which provided details about a devastating and deadly 2015 terror attack in California. The article also argued that the terrorists’ radical Islamic beliefs were a key factor in driving the attack.

Google Invests in AI Education as it Unleashes ‘Secret Weapon’

Google just announced a massive investment in training Americans to use its biased and anti-free speech artificial intelligence. Big Tech giant Google proudly declared its AI education investment in an April 26 release. Beneficiaries of these funds include the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and Goodwill, which are each expected to train American military members, veterans and civilians in AI skills. The problem? Google’s AI and search engine both have a track record of giving anti-free speech and woke results, so much so that the tech company is not a trustworthy source of AI training. “Together with our partners, we want to make sure everyone can take advantage of the opportunities AI will provide,” the release declared. “That’s why today we are announcing a $75 million Google AI Opportunity Fund, made possible with support from Google.org, our philanthropic arm.” The release added, “Through this fund, Google.org will work with nonprofit, education, and other sectors to train one million Americans of all backgrounds and provide them with AI skills at no cost.” Google is actively trying to get people to use its AI but it is not willing to reveal exactly how it works behind the scenes.  As MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider pointed out, Google’s AI is also closed source, meaning its source code is kept secret. So even if IVMF and Goodwill train Americans using Google AI, people won’t be able to see fully what they’re using. Schneider highlighted the dangers of this: “Users can become involuntary tools for Google’s political purposes. This is Google’s secret weapon.” This comes on the heels of studies MRC Free Speech America released illustrating the Google AI’s leftist bent.  MRC caught Google’s Gemini promoting leftist climate propaganda and justifying censorship on Earth Day. MRC researchers queried, “Is climate information free speech under the First Amendment?” Gemini pontificated in reply that “Incitement to Violence” and “Fraudulent Speech” or “Speech intended to mislead for personal gain — can be restricted.” The AI did not then clarify how climate information could potentially fit into the categories it listed. In March, MRC released a report on a whopping 41 times that Google has engaged in election interference since 2008. Google's AI Gemini (formerly Bard) displayed bias this election cycle, refusing to answer prompts about two of Biden’s worst weak spots; namely, the Democrat president’s mental health and the ongoing border crisis. Google’s search engine also buried the campaign websites of Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential opponents. Will Google’s AI funding only exacerbate the bias and censorship inherent in its own technology? Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Par for the Course: Google AI Gemini Justifies Censorship, Defends Climate Propaganda

MRC researchers caught Google’s biased artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini presenting an argument for censoring so-called climate “misinformation,” while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge any evidence undermining the “mainstream” climate narrative. While Gemini AI did admit that most so-called climate “misinformation” — or analysis that the left disagrees with — is protected free speech, it still offered an alternative argument for censoring such content. What made this particularly concerning is that the Google AI apparently classifies any evidence or data undermining a climate alarmist narrative as “misinformation,” repeatedly pushing narrative over scientific evidence. This included questioning the reliability of some experts and downplaying evidence against “man-made” climate change and “green” energy. MRC Free Speech America researchers asked on Earth Day, “Is climate information free speech under the First Amendment?” Gemini confessed, “Yes, climate information is generally considered free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment protects the right to express ideas and information, even if they are controversial or unpopular.” After explaining why climate information was free speech, however, Gemini asserted “there are some limitations to free speech.” Gemini pontificated that “Incitement to Violence” and “Fraudulent Speech” or “Speech intended to mislead for personal gain … can be restricted.” Gemini did not clarify how climate information could potentially fit into these categories. And while Gemini was correct to point out that there are limits on permissible speech under the Constitution, Google’s AI went on to regurgitate what amounted to leftist propaganda on the issue of climate change. For instance, while admitting the scientific expertise of Dr. John Clauser, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, Gemini then critiqued his evidence-based argument against climate alarmism. Clauser argues that the earth has a built-in thermostat and that atmospheric CO2 and methane have little effect on climate. Refusing to provide any of the arguments Clauser has made, however, Gemini instead sneeringly cited his ties to “climate change denial organizations.” The Google AI added that “it's important to note his recent comments differ from the established consensus.” Of course, consensus is not the standard for ascertaining truth in science. After all, the consensus once was that the Earth was the center of the universe.  In striking contrast to its criticism of Clauser, Gemini aggressively defended and praised leftist climate change propagandist Greta Thunberg — even while admitting she has no scientific credentials — because she “amplifies the scientific consensus on climate change.”  Indeed, throughout some dozen questions about climate and climate experts, Gemini consistently provided little to no scientific data or evidence. Rather, it emphasized “consensus” and “mainstream” narratives. Surprisingly, when asked whether liberal climate propagandist and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was reliable and why his predictions have always been wrong, Gemini replied, “I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search.” But Gore’s mistakes aren’t hard to find. As far back as 2007, a British court ruled there were eleven inaccuracies in Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” film. In fact, the Arctic ice cap actually increased in size the same year Gore predicted it would disappear. Furthermore, Google Search is equally problematic as it pertains to bias. A recent MRC Free Speech America study on Google election interference illustrates this bias. For instance, Google used its algorithm to promote Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, and, in 2024, Google has suppressed campaign websites for Biden opponents.  Google’s Gemini also consistently and clearly took the side of climate alarmism on issues where evidence supports an opposing view. For example, there is data to support the argument that the Earth is cooling rather than warming, including UAH satellite-based temperature data. But when asked about the apparent cooling trend, Gemini fumbled, “Focusing on a single year or even a few years can be misleading due to natural variations. … While some regions might see cooler-than-average years, the long-term trend shows a clear warming pattern.  Each of the past five years has been among the warmest on record.” The latter claim depends largely upon which source of temperature data a person chooses to evidence the point made, particularly in this case, since some sources seem to show warming while others show cooling. For instance, The Heritage Foundation explained in January, “Warming of the global climate system over the past half-century has averaged 43 percent less than that produced by computerized climate models used to promote changes in energy policy.” Gemini also listed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a “trusted” source for climate data. But NOAA was just recently exposed for presenting questionable data. According to a recent MRCTV report, 30 percent of its “temperature stations” for estimating global warming do not even exist.  When asked about the left’s favored so-called green energy sources, Gemini did acknowledge some potential “drawbacks” of wind turbines and solar panels, including “hazardous materials” involved in their manufacture and requirements for a “significant amount of land.” The Google AI, however, instead of simply stating facts, defended leftist energy policy: “While solar panels and wind turbines aren't perfect, they represent a significant step towards cleaner energy production.” In actuality, both solar panels and wind turbines are extremely toxic to manufacture and to dispose of. Even leftist news site NPR has acknowledged how “expensive” these leftist alternative energy sources can be. Policy experts have also pointed to their unreliability and how they provide no long-term benefits to offset their heavy negatives. Google’s AI failed to mention that solar and wind cannot produce enough electricity to power America, despite evidencethat they cannot, and directed users to Biden’s Department of Energy, which aggressively promotes wind and solar, for more information (see below). Google has censored content in the past to enforce the leftist narrative on climate. Back in 2021, Google and its YouTube video platform banned advertising on so-called climate “misinformation,” or information that goes against the left’s preferred narrative.  Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Buckle Up: CCP-Tied TikTok Announces ‘Conspiracy Theories’ Counteroffensive

Communist Chinese government-tied TikTok is doubling down on election-interfering censorship even as it faces a potential U.S. ban. President Joe Biden signed into law a Republican-led bill that could force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or have it banned in America. TikTok came under fire for a March update to its “For You feed Eligibility Standards,” where the app announced its determination to censor alleged “misinformation,” “conspiracy theories” and “false or misleading” election content. This could constitute foreign election interference ahead of the 2024 election, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. TikTok’s update to its “Standards” details the alleged “Misinformation” it bans specifically for the “For You” feed, including “General conspiracy theories that are unfounded and claim that certain events or situations are carried out by covert or powerful groups, such as ‘the government’ or a ‘secret society.’” Can TikTok be trusted to determine what constitutes “Misinformation” unbiasedly? The platform's record suggests it cannot. TikTok has censored content to please the CCP in the past, including about Tibetan independence and Tiananmen Square, leaks have suggested. As for accusations against the American government, at least some of those would fall under the category of free speech.  MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider said, “It is a fact, not a conspiracy theory, that the Biden administration coordinated and coerced Big Tech to censor conservatives who criticized Biden and his radical policies. But with Biden using TikTok as the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, it is now very possible that TikTok will do his bidding and hide this kind of information from voters.” Moreover, the Chinese-owned app’s standards also ramble vaguely about additional content that could get censored: “Unverified information related to an emergency or unfolding event where the details are still emerging” and “Potential high-harm misinformation while it is undergoing a fact-checking review.” The lack of clarity in these standards could lead to biased censorship of free speech. Finally, TikTok declared its ban on alleged “[u]nverified claims about the outcome of an election that is still unfolding and may be false or misleading.” The app does have indirect ties to the Chinese government which makes this new policy particularly dangerous. Multiple former TikTok employees recently told Forbes that the app has much closer ties and extensive data sharing between TikTok and ByeDance. This raises serious concerns about TikTok’s potential election interference. Conservatives are under attack. Contact TikTok via email at communitymanager@tiktok.com and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Hard to Believe: Google Spreads Climate Propaganda on Earth Day

Leftist Google displayed its search engine bias yet again on “Earth Day” with a specialized logo and promotion of climate alarmist propaganda. Users going to Google’s search engine on April 22 noticed a doodle specially designed for Earth Day. Clicking on the doodle brought up biased information on alleged “climate change progress” and “climate justice.” This aligns with Google’s previous history of censoring content that doesn’t support a climate hysteria narrative. Below the sponsored sites Google provides, the tech giant proudly explains its doodle. “Happy Earth Day 2024! Today's annual Earth Day Doodle features the planet's natural beauty and biodiversity and reminds us of the importance of protecting it for future generations,” Google enthused. Google then promoted outlets and organizations including left-leaning USA Today, Wikipedia and the anti-free speech United Nations. MRC Free Speech America researchers found the top, sponsored search result in this Google search engine Earth Day tribute to be from Global Human Rights on “Climate justice definition.” The organization insanely claimed “Climate change is an existential threat to humanity” and “a leading cause of human rights violations.” You May Also Like: CNN Virtue Signals to Save Planet by Releasing Hysterical Letter: ‘To My Son, Born in the Climate Crisis’ Google has censored content in the past to enforce this leftist narrative on climate. For instance, in 2021, Google and its YouTube video platform banned advertising on so-called climate “misinformation.”  YouTube has also censored and fact-checked climate content, including putting context labels on 2024 GOP and Democrat presidential candidates’ videos, particularly Vivek Ramaswamy. Junk Science’s Steve Milloy highlighted the hypocrisy of such climate virtue-signaling on Earth Day, “The green agenda has focused on total control of society through the climate hoax and not at all about the environment we live in.” Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

WATCH: Babylon Bee CEO Explains Why Experts Should NEVER Be Censors

The CEO of a popular satire site summed up exactly why no expert should ever have the ability to determine what free speech is allowed. Private experts, Big Tech employees and government officials alike have all appointed themselves arbiters of what speech should be censored and what speech will be allowed. This anti-constitutional attitude is also totally out of touch with a basic fact, one which The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon highlighted as a “knock-down argument” against censorship: experts can be wrong. Because of this fact, “dissent must not only be allowed, but encouraged,” Dillon posted on X (formerly Twitter) on April 17. Dillon included a clip of his 2023 testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee besides his written comment. “Whenever we learn that censorship has blocked something true (like the Hunter Biden laptop story), we always hear the same excuse: ‘We censored it based on what we knew at the time,’” he wrote. But, according to Dillon, “This is not a defense of censorship. In fact, it's a knock-down argument against it.” Media Research Center poll data previously illustrated that censorship of the Hunter Biden scandal swayed the 2020 presidential election in then-candidate Joe Biden’s favor. Related: ‘A Knock-Down Argument’: Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon Calls Out Hypocritical COVID-19 Censorship Dillon explained further, “If knowledge changes over time, then the last thing we should ever do is pretend it doesn't by preemptively shutting down the debate.” He concluded, “If it's even possible that the ‘experts’ and authorities are wrong — and we know they often are — then dissent must not only be allowed, but encouraged.” The X post also included a clip of Dillon, responding to a question about censors’ objectivity during the 2023 congressional hearing.  In it, Dillon referred to censors’ supposed credibility as a “pretty good joke” and added, “In the whole fact-checking apparatus … there’s unbelievable hubris in the whole project. You know, this idea, especially when we’re talking about medical information too, I often hear people going back say, ‘Well, it was based on what we knew at the time.’” Again, Dillon emphasized, this simply highlights that one’s knowledge can alter over time. He then stated the “knock-down argument” against censorship which he also wrote in his post. Indeed, America has a First Amendment to protect free speech and open debate. You May Also Like: WATCH: Babylon Bee CEO Calls Censorship ‘The Issue for Our Time’ The Babylon Bee is a member of the Free Speech Alliance. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Bias Revealed? Guess Where the Trump Jurors Get Their News From

Five Trump jurors reportedly get their news from a tech giant notorious for its leftist bias. Fox News released information April 17 on the seven jurors chosen for former President Donald Trump’s supposed “hush money” criminal trial in New York. Answers provided by the jurors reveal five of them receive their news from Google News, which media ratings firm AllSides describes as “lean left.” Two of the jurors also find news on TikTok, the communist Chinese government-tied app currently under scrutiny as a national security risk. While Fox noted that the jurors were asked questions about their opinion of Trump, they do not seem to have been screened for other types of bias. AllSides, based on independent review and community feedback, rates Google News “lean left” and explains that 63 percent of the tech giant’s news feed sources are leftist. AllSides has apparently not rated TikTok’s news bias, but the app, which is owned by Chinese ByteDance, is certainly concerning from a national security standpoint. The U.S. House recently advanced legislation to force TikTok’s separation from ByteDance. This came not long before a Fortune interview of former employees revealed disturbingly close China ties from TikTok. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent ByteDance. MRC Free Speech America rated TikTok one of the top Big Tech censors of 2023. Google might not have direct CCP ties, but its anti-freedom, biased record raises concerns. MRC Free Speech America did a series of bombshell studies exposing Google search results bias in favor of Democrats and against Republicans before the 2022 and 2024 elections. President Joe Biden was among the Democrat candidates favored, while Trump’s website was consistently suppressed. Most recently, a comprehensive MRC study exposed a whopping 41 times Google interfered in U.S. elections since 2008. Such blatant bias against Trump and other Republicans and Democrats reinforces the argument that Google News is biased and unreliable. It is therefore concerning that five jurors in Trump’s trial source their news from Google. Soros-tied Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg revived the charges against Trump of alleged “hush money” payments to a porn star despite evidence against the alleged crimes. Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Color Me Shocked? Ex-TikTok Employees Blow Whistle on Chinese Access to App

A group of former TikTok employees is sounding the alarm on the company’s disturbing ties to the communist Chinese government. Fortune interviewed 11 former employees, some of whom stated that TikTok does have close operational ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Furthermore, the employees admitted that ByteDance’s “independence from China was largely cosmetic” and the China-based company received vast amounts of data. These revelations highlight the national security risks creating a firestorm of controversy around the popular TikTok app. “The allegations … create more fodder for critics who fear the Chinese government could use TikTok as a sort of Trojan Horse to spy on Americans by sifting through the huge amounts of digital data that it collects,” Fortune explained. The House of Representatives recently voted to advance legislation that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok if the latter is to operate in the United States. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent ByteDance. Former TikTok senior data scientist Evan Turner told Fortune that he always answered to a Chinese ByteDance executive despite an alleged alteration in his chain of command. Turner was also required to email detailed data about twice a month on “hundreds of thousands of U.S. users to ByteDance workers in Beijing.” As he told Fortune, “I literally worked on a project that gave U.S. data to China.” Anton Dahbura, executive director of Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, told Fortune the data — including IP addresses, names and geographic location — could be “very damaging” in the wrong hands.  Patrick Spaulding Ryan, TikTok’s lead technical program manager for security engineering until 2022, added another piece of concerning information. Ryan said that some of TikTok’s internal software was monitored and maintained by China-based ByteDance teams. Fortune added that it was impossible to assure prospective customers that U.S. data for the shared internal messaging system Lark was safe and secure. While TikTok executives are attempting to convince American users and politicians that the app is independent of China and not subject to CCP spying and data mining, the new information raises questions. Multiple former employees even admitted to being pressured by the company to downplay TikTok-ByteDance ties, either to the public or to fellow employees. But if what these employees say is true, TikTok truly is a national security risk. Conservatives are under attack. Contact TikTok via email at communitymanager@tiktok.com and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

FrontPage Magazine Doubles Down Against Big Tech Giants: ‘We Won’t Censor Ourselves’

One outlet is accusing Big Tech, especially Facebook, of silencing the truth about radical Islamic terrorism. Daniel Greenfield, a journalism fellow for FrontPage Magazine’s David Horowitz Freedom Center, announced on April 15, “[W]e won’t censor ourselves for Big Tech cash.” He noted that Google, Twitter and Facebook (owned by Meta) have all censored individuals connected with the outlet, with Facebook being the latest culprit. Most recently, Greenfield wrote, Google AdSense demonetized FrontPage and Facebook disabled the account of FrontPage Editor Jamie Glazov for discussing Islamic terrorism. Google continues to censor the magazine financially for a previous report about a San Bernardino terrorist attack, which FrontPage refuses to remove. More recently, Greenfield explained, Facebook disabled Glazov’s account over an interview headlined  “Oct. 7 Coming to the USA?” Facebook reportedly asserted that the interview, which discussed accused terrorists crossing into America through the open southern border, violated “community standards” and threatened “the security of people on Facebook.” Greenfield referred to a 2023 decision from Meta’s Oversight Board that the term “shaheed” or martyr, used by Muslims to refer to jihadis killed while engaging in terrorism, was protected by freedom of expression. In fact, according to Greenfield, pro-terrorist groups and jihadis have used Facebook without censorship over the years. He cited a 2021 report from Israel-based newspaper Israel Hayom on Facebook refusing to address terrorism-inciting content. Previous to that, in 2016, terror victims sued Facebook, accusing it of complicity in inciting terrorism, Greenfield added. More recently, one Israeli family found out about their grandmother’s death on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas posted a video of her gruesome death to Facebook. “Telling the story of the barbarous Hamas atrocities of Oct 7 got Jamie Glazov banned, but one of the little told stories of that day is how Islamic terrorists had used Facebook to taunt and terrorize the families of their victims,” Greenfield insisted. Greenfield wrote that he has been suspended by Facebook and Twitter. Individuals including Glazov, David Horowitz, JihadWatch’s Robert Spencer, and FrontPage contributor Raymond Ibrahim have all been censored for discussing Islamic radicalism, Greenfield reported. PayPal, Twitter, Google and Facebook censored the anti-terrorism content, despite hosting pro-terrorist content from others. Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at (650) 308-7300 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “misinformation” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

‘Coincidence of Coincidences’: DHS Deployed State Dept. to Censorship Group Day of Hunter Biden Bombshell

A watchdog group obtained internal records showing federal agencies collaborating with private partners to crush online free speech before the 2020 election. Protect the Public’s Trust, a government watchdog, obtained never-before-seen emails that expose the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advising the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) on censorship collusion with Big Tech companies. Notably, one email came the same day as a bombshell New York Post report on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop. MRC Free Speech America has reviewed the emails, which were initially reported by the Washington Examiner. The researchers of the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) had worked with DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) before the 2020 election and DHS recommended them to another major federal agency for censorship purposes. Both EIP and CISA representatives have tried to “downplay” their partnership and anti-free speech work amidst GOP Congressional scrutiny, the Examiner explained. However, the newly discovered emails appear to suggest a close working relationship. Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain raised the alarm about the implications of such emails in an exclusive interview with MRC Free Speech America. “The more people dig into the Censorship Industrial Complex, the more federal agencies’ denials, disavowals, and defenses crumble. Agencies and offices that claim to never have been involved have left fingerprints all over the records we find.” EIP involved GEC, the University of Washington and the Stanford Internet Observatory. The new documentation comes soon after a 60 Minutes segment featured University of Washington researcher Kate Starbird claiming government and private entities had not colluded to pressure Big Tech into censoring content. The emails directly contradict Starbird’s claims. In his remarks to MRC, Chamberlain added, “Called out, they proclaim their efforts never focused on the speech of American citizens, yet there is overlap and evidence of close coordination between agencies involved in domestic matters and those involved in foreign policy, even helping each other make contacts and connections.”  In the unearthed emails, GEC reached out to EIP. “Our colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security/CISA recommended we talk to you about your current efforts to protect the 2020 elections from foreign interference,” then-GEC academic Adela Levis reportedly wrote in Oct. 2020. “There may be some synergies there with the work we’re doing. Warm regards, Adela.” The reply specifically highlighted Starbird’s leadership and government agencies’ anti-free speech “efforts.” GEC ended by being involved in the process of flagging content for social media to censor, the Washington Examiner reported. “EIP Team, I want to send my sincerest thanks for allowing me to participate in the Election Integrity Partnership as an analyst with the GEC,” enthused State Department employee William Beebe in December 2020. The same day GEC started working toward election interfering censorship, the New York Post story “Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad” was published, the Examiner reported. MRC poll data previously illustrated that censorship of Hunter Biden scandals swayed the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favor. Emphasizing the election interference, Chamberlain told MRC: “Coincidence of coincidences, a State Department agency attempted to connect on the very day the Hunter Biden laptop story broke, one of the most egregious examples of a story being improperly dismissed and censored as ‘foreign disinformation.’” MRC Free Speech America Assistant Editor Luis Cornelio contributed to this report. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

ENOUGH: Jordan Increases Pressure on Gov’t-Big Tech Collusion

The House Judiciary Committee is aiming to uncover potentially more dystopian free speech violations from two major government agencies in coordination with five Big Tech companies. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding government pressure to crush free speech, according to an April 9 press release. Jordan also issued letters to the CEOs of Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Alphabet (owner of Google and YouTube). “The Judiciary Committee is conducting oversight of how and to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech,” the House Judiciary wrote. This comes as the House Judiciary Committee is also summoning three former Biden White House officials to testify on alleged government efforts to censor free speech. These officials are former White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty, former COVID-19 Coordinator Andy Slavitt and former COVID-19 Digital Director Clarke Humphrey, according to the New York Post. Jordan’s Committee is taking action on the FBI-tech coordination since the Supreme Court stayed a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals injunction against government censorship activities. An FBI spokesperson confirmed on March 20 that the agency’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) is again communicating with tech companies, per the press release. Jordan is now warning the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI that “all documents and communications relating to ongoing discussions between the FBI and each Big Tech company fall within the scope of the Committee's [previous] subpoenas.” The records requested include potential communications between each tech company, the FBI San Francisco Field Office, and FITF, particularly regarding “alleged foreign influence or election integrity.”  Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Make It Make Sense: Online Censors Demand Trust Despite Stifling Free Speech

Big Tech censors work to violate Americans’ constitutional rights and then turn around and demand implicit trust from those same Americans. This was evident from two recent events. Soon after Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi warned Americans to pay attention to the “mass censorship” occurring online thanks to public and private partners, a “disinformation” expert called on Americans to believe only “trusted” and pre-approved sources for election-related content.  Yet the very sources considered trustworthy by legacy media and social media platforms are the sources complicit in the suppression of free speech, particularly around elections. Indeed, Big Tech fact checks operate as a form of censorship, penalizing content to promote certain “trusted” viewpoints and outlets. For instance, during an April 2 panel for investigative media group Spotlight PA, Beth Schwanke, the executive director of the Pitt Disinformation Lab, recommended trusting biased, legacy media over free speech online debate.  “One thing everyone can do to make sure they are seeing accurate information is to use trusted sources,” Schwanke pontificated, according to a transcript by Reclaim the Net. “So in elections that means using the Department of State, that means using your county elections office, it means using media organizations that follow, that adhere, to professional journalism standards like … your local NPR affiliate.” She further scoffed, “And it doesn’t mean you know, ‘doing your own research’ and just asking questions and sharing, you know, posts from — I don’t know, in my case, it’s Uncle Joe, right?”  Yet, undercutting her claims, both government agencies and media outlets have supported or actively facilitated censorship, sometimes of accurate information. This is the Censorship Industrial Complex uncovered by the Twitter Files, created by government and Big Tech and defended by legacy media. Hence, Taibbi had a warning on March 25 at RealClearPolitics’ Samizdat Prize award ceremony.  Taibbi specifically cited the 2020 censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, censorship which swayed the presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden, according to a Media Research Center poll. While researching the Twitter Files, “we did find within days a whole galaxy of things that said, ‘Flagged by FBI,’ ‘Flagged by DHS,’ ‘Flagged by HHS,’ ‘Flagged By Treasury,’” Taibbi stated. The government was coordinating censorship of certain content with Twitter. “We realized there was this huge operation that spanned the entire federal government to pressure not just Twitter, but two dozen at least internet companies to suppress different kinds of information,” Taibbi added.  Certain journalists’ accounts were even flagged for censorship. “[We] were all caught up in this story of mass censorship that until very recently was hidden. This has to be out in the open more, people need to know more about it,” Taibbi insisted. Indeed, Big Tech platforms have fact-checking partners, often biased third-party censors or legacy media outlets. Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram and Google-owned YouTube all made MRC Free Speech America’s worst censorship of March list for preposterous fact checks.  The platforms impose labels that greatly reduce interaction with content based on the fact checks. X (formerly Twitter) Community Notes is somewhat different in approving users that can choose to fact check content, but the company still imposes demonetization and other penalties on posts that receive the Notes.  Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Soros-Funded Fact-Checkers: Who Cares About Free Speech, Our ‘Facts’ Are What Matter

A fact-checking network funded by leftist billionaire George Soros is trying to shift emphasis from free speech to pre-approved “facts.” Leftist Poynter Institute and its International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) only mentioned free speech once in its 2023-2024 Impact Report — and such a mention was only to highlight an individual’s award. Rather, Poynter emphasized “Facts on the global stage,” setting itself up as an arbiter of truth online. Poynter openly boasted about its work to suppress speech on social media platforms. Significantly, this report comes after Poynter Institute received $492,000 in grants from Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) between 2016 and 2019. Poynter only mentioned “freedom of expression” when it highlighted the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Filipina journalist Maria Ressa for defending free speech. Tellingly, Ressa now trains fact-checkers, which is the work Poynter aimed to highlight. Ressa’s news organization Rappler was a beneficiary of Poynter funds, as was USA Today, among others. “In 2023, Poynter’s IFCN awarded $1.875 million in grants to 55 different news organizations through IFCN’s GlobalFact Check Fund,” the group announced. “Poynter will award up to $4 million in additional grants in 2024.” In the report, Poynter highlighted its fact-checking work for Big Tech companies on its PolitiFact website. “PolitiFact checks claims on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok,” Poynter announced. “In 2023, we initiated fact-checking for native Spanish speakers and will launch a Spanish-language website in 2024.”  Poynter then bragged about its partners Stanford University (a U.S. government censorship proxy) Meta and Google-owned YouTube “to level a playing field full of misinformation.” As widely reported by MRC, misinformation is a common leftist catchphrase to justify censorship of free speech. In the same report, IFCN Director Angie Drobnic Holan raised the alarm that “[m]isinformation is on the march” and that “fact-checkers and other journalists face attack and harassment simply for doing their jobs.” Ignoring the fact that anti-free speech actions are a major factor in reducing trust in media, Holan then claimed, “We are on the side of truth. We are on the side of information integrity.” An example undermining Holan’s claims of objectivity is a 2020 article and Facebook fact-check still available on the Poynter-owned PolitiFact website. The article pushed the claim that “Russian operatives used a series of ‘active measures’ to hack campaigns, spread disinformation and sow discord in an effort to sway the election in favor of President Donald Trump.” PolitiFact cited and linked to the since-discredited Mueller Report, which actually found no evidence of “Russia collusion” with Trump. As former reporter and ex-Lake Elsinore Mayor Thomas Buckley noted in an April 5 Brownstone Institute piece, Poynter is anti-free speech and is not objective. “To the contrary, ‘fact-based expression’ demands both self and external censorship, a political, social, and cultural censorship that will drown out and drone on,” he wrote. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Worst of March: Big Tech Companies Renew Censorship-Heavy Ways

March closed with Resurrection Day (Easter or Pascha), the Christian celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead and renewal. Yet the most obvious thing Big Tech companies have renewed this past month are their censorship-heavy ways. From communist Chinese government-tied TikTok’s censorship of contraceptive-critical content to Google-owned YouTube terminating a therapy group channel for criticizing homosexuality, Big Tech went to bat for the woke, sexual and anti-pro-life ideology of the left in March. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube also “fact checked” content without any clear or defensible justification. Below are the worst examples of Big Tech censorship from this past month. 1) Communist Chinese government-tied TikTok censored content exposing side effects associated with contraceptives. The Washington Post released a report attempting to discredit women discussing the well-known side effects listed on the sizable warning label that comes with oral contraceptives. The Post bragged that it pressured TikTok to censor five videos after its inquiries about alleged “misinformation,” including videos by The Daily Wire commentator Brett Cooper, who hosts The Comments Section, and TikTok influencer Nicole Bendayan. The Post identified one censored video as being a clip from Cooper’s May 2023 appearance on the Iced Coffee Hour podcast, during which Cooper highlighted contraception’s worrying impact on weight gain, fertility, regular hormone function and romantic attraction.  Absurdly, while lashing out at “conservative[s]” for warning about the potential side effects of birth control, The Post neglected to mention its own reporting on oral contraceptive pill users’ increased risk for cervical cancer in 1977. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has also documented substantial evidence of serious side effects from taking hormonal “birth control.” But no mention of that information either from The Post. The clip of Cooper garnered “219,000 ‘likes’ before TikTok removed it following The Post’s inquiry,” according to The Post. The TikTok video links now bring up the message, “Video currently unavailable.” A TikTok spokesperson claimed to The Post that the videos had “inaccurate, misleading or false content that may cause significant harm to individuals or society.”  It is key to note that the anti-American Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, and has reason to suppress and censor certain helpful American or CCP-related content. 2) Facebook fact checks paid ad for college course on globalist “Great Reset” movement. Hillsdale College ran a paid Facebook advertisement on the Meta platform to promote a free video class. "Are you aware of the idea of an economic reset? We discussed this at a recent CCA event and packaged the conversations into a free online video series so you can learn more about this economic reset and its effect on America today,” the ad read. Facebook imposed a “False Information” label, which appears either over or under the image. The label links to a warning: “False information. Independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact. You can choose whether to see it.” Facebook bases this label on a Lead Stories fact check titled “‘The Great Reset’ Is NOT A Secret Plan Masterminded By Global Elites To Limit Freedoms And Push Radical Policies.” Hillsdale explains the Communist China-like “goal of the Great Reset.” The fact check merely cites the goals of the globalist World Economic Forum, originator of the Great Reset project, none of which refute Hillsdale's interpretation. 3) Google-owned YouTube accuses therapy group channel of “hate speech” against homosexuals. YouTube terminated the new channel for a therapy group critical of homosexuality. YouTube previously deleted the group’s channel in 2022 based on a hit piece from the same leftist group that again attacked the late Dr. Joseph Nicolosi’s Reintegrative Therapy Association for alleged “conversion therapy.” The Daily Signal reported that Nicolosi’s son, who was in charge of the channel, received multiple communications from YouTube regarding a video in which the book “The Sissy Boy Syndrome: The Development of Homosexuality” was referenced. YouTube removed the video, claiming so-called “hate speech,” and another video the following day. YouTube initially admitted March 10 to the younger Nicolosi that the content did not violate the platform’s rules, but nevertheless, the next day, YouTube terminated the channel altogether. YouTube alleged “severe or repeated violations of [its] hate speech policy” and refused to alter its position after an appeal. 4) YouTube bafflingly fact checks news podcast. YouTube imposed a fact-checking label on Cumulus News Talk's March 14, 2024 video episode of the Rich Valdes America at Night Podcast. YouTube imposed a label on the video — “William Jacobson, Joseph Vazquez, & Nicole McCaw” — that linked to the “The Great Replacement” Wikipedia entry. The note’s summary pontificated, “The Great Replacement, also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theory espoused by French author Renaud Camus.” Vazquez stated that Valdes only mentioned the Great Replacement to say a leftist organization had accused him of promoting the theory.  5) Meta’s Instagram pushes fact checks of royal family photo. UK Princess of Wales Kate Middleton posted a photo of herself and her three children on the official Instagram page for “Prince and Princess of Wales” for UK's Mother's Day. Instagram imposed an interstitial on the photo, saying, “Altered photo/video. The same altered photo was reviewed by independent fact-checkers in another post.” The “See Why” link asserted that “Independent fact-checkers say the photo or image has been edited in a way that could mislead people, but not because it was shown out of context.” Middleton did state that she had attempted amateur photo-editing on the picture, though Instagram’s assertion that this “could mislead people” is not explained. According to Facebook, Instagram's sister-site, users fail to click through similar fact-check interstitials 95 percent of the time. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Is There a Global Assault on Free Speech? Latest Twitter Files Suggest So

A new installment of the Twitter Files has revealed a government campaign in Brazil to coordinate political censorship with Big Tech. Journalist Michael Shellenberger deplored the “sweeping crackdown on free speech” occurring in Brazil, particularly against supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The Twitter Files identify Alexandre de Moraes, head of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and member of its Supreme Court (STF), as the alleged prime culprit in a congressional and judicial effort to crush political opponents’ speech, Shellenberger reported.  “De Moraes has thrown people in jail without trial for things they posted on social media,” Shellenberger revealed on the Twitter Files, also co-written by Brazilian journalists Eli Vieira and David Agape. “He has demanded the removal of users from social media platforms. And he has required the censorship of specific posts, without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them.” According to Shellenberger, the Brazilian government had requested users’ data from major social media companies including Google, Facebook, Uber, WhatsApp and Instagram. He noted that these companies provided registration data and phone numbers without court orders and legal justification for such requests. Twitter’s Brazilian legal counsel Rafael Batista consistently tried to fight court orders for private information, Shellenberger explained. Unfortunately, compliance from other tech companies, particularly Google, in providing information to the government undermined Twitter’s stand. In response to these disturbing findings, Dan Schneider, the MRC Vice President for Free Speech, did not hold back, saying: “Brazil’s Supreme Court is authoritarian and a serial abuser of individual rights. Americans have a hard time understanding this since the Brazilian government is structured so differently, but it is no surprise that its Supreme Court is again silencing conservatives and trying to lock up those who criticize it.” Expanding on his response, Schneider added: “That Google would help support such an authoritarian monster is also not a surprise. Google has a long history of cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party while simultaneously refusing to work with our own Defense Department.”  While Twitter did push back against a criminal investigation and various suits, it did acknowledge censorship of an “extreme right” individual for COVID-19 content, per Shellenberger.  When Jair Bolsonaro supporters began criticizing TSE and STF, the government entities behind the alleged free speech assault, the courts aimed to have the users demonetized and suppressed online. Jair Bolsonaro and his son Carlos Bolsonaro were among the targets.  Shellenberger quoted Twitter’s Head of Legal Diego de Lima Gualda, “There is a strong political component with this investigation and the court is trying to put pressure for compliance.” The government not only sought to obtain information but also pushed to reduce interaction with specific content and “certain types of trending hashtags.” Twitter argued the latter was illegal. By November 2021, however, an appeals court demanded global Twitter removal of “specific URLs related to the plaintiff.” Shellenberger posted that even Brazil’s Federal Police (FBI equivalent) were involved in the TSE investigation by March 2022.  “On March 30, 2022, the day after de Moraes took office as president of the TSE, the TSE mandated Twitter to, within a week and under the threat of a daily fine of 50,000 BRL (US$ 10,000), supply data on the monthly trend statistics for the hashtags,” Shellenberger explained. IP addresses and subscription information were also requested ahead of the 2022 election. Even congressional members were targeted. Brazilian attorney Hugo Freitas told Shellenberger the pre-election pressure from TSE was “clearly abusive.” Despite this, Twitter eventually complied with de Moraes’ censorship requests. The government continues to escalate its efforts even now with proposed “Fake News” censorship legislation, Shellenberger added. “TSE’s censorship is an attack on the democratic process,” he concluded. “Elections can remain free and fair only if the public is able to debate and question election laws, systems, and results. If there ever is electoral fraud in Brazil, nobody will be allowed to talk about it, if de Moraes gets his way.” MRC Assistant Editor for Business and Free Speech America Luis Cornelio contributed to this report. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Taibbi’s Warning to NBC: Here’s Evidence Uncovering the Censorship Industrial Complex

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi has taken on deniers of government-private partnerships against free speech in a recent Twitter Files report. Taibbi issued the new report in response to NBC News smears accusing Taibbi, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk of shutting down vital government “disinformation” efforts with a “conspiracy theory.” Despite NBC News’s claims, Taibbi provided alleged documentation which showed clear and defined partnerships between federal agencies and private entities to coordinate censorship with social media platforms. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) were among those federal agencies. On March 27, Taibbi wrote in his Racket News piece, “Three separate investigations took over a year to nail down the case that government agencies were improperly censoring by proxy. Forced by courts to stop, they're desperately trying for a reboot.” His expose comes soon after a CBS News’s 60 Minutes segment tried to argue that private entities did not collude with the government to censor speech. The segment included comments from government censorship proxy Kate Starbird. Taibbi posted screenshots on X to support his case. These included evidence of the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), with which Starbird was involved, flagging content seemingly on behalf of the government for social media to censor. A message to DHS/CISA employee Brian Scully (the sender was unspecified) expressed regret “you won’t be joining us at Twitter.” This makes sense in light of earlier 2020 emails, one of which, from Twitter’s legal executive Stacia Cardille, declared “DHS want [sic] to establish a centralized portal for reporting disinformation.” Scully, who was cited as having ties to multiple federal agencies, was apparently a key player on the subject, which specifically aimed to undermine election-related information. The FBI was also implicated in many ways, per Taibbi, including through an email from agent Elvis Chan telling then-trust and safety head at Twitter Yoel Roth to set a date to share certain information. Roth promised, “We’ll discuss and get back to you.” In another message Taibbi shared, Roth voiced reservations about sharing information that he deemed more appropriate for a congressional investigation than an FBI request. Roth also protested the proposed DHS portal as “high-risk.” A congressional finding, Taibbi did not say from where, showed that DHS was involved with the portal behind the scenes. There was also an FBI letter to Twitter demanding information on metrics and how the platform “limit[ed] the scope of your analysis of the domestic, scam, foreign state, official propaganda, and white supremacist actors.” Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
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