The Joe Biden administration has pressured Google and its YouTube platform to crack down on misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination campaign, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said.
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“The Biden White House has been pressuring Americans to censor Americans,” the congressman wrote on social media site X, citing “internal Google documents obtained by the Judiciary Committee.”
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He accompanied the statement with a link to a Fox Business publication, which, citing documents provided by a “source close to the committee,” details that in 2021, “the Biden administration worked with employees of the Google-owned YouTube platform to identify “misinformation “related to the COVID-19 virus and vaccination.”
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According to the publication, the YouTube engagement campaign was led by former White House digital strategy chief Rob Flaherty, who is now “deputy campaign manager for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign,” the publication says.
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The publication provides excerpts from a correspondence between a White House spokesman and platform employees in which he asked “about the work you are doing to combat vaccine hesitancy and misinformation about vaccines.” According to the publication, this was about content that did not violate any Google rules, but could be interpreted by the administration as misinformation. The company reported to the White House about the deleted videos and remained in close contact with the administration on the topic.
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Jordan’s publication of yet another accusation of censorship against the current administration took place against the backdrop of hearings taking place in his committee today with the participation of journalists who published the so-called Twitter Files in late 2022 – early 2023, documents according to which the authors conclude about manipulation and censorship by the authorities information on social networks.
