OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
The Biden Administration worked with Google-owned YouTube in 2021 to target COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
Internal documents show that the White House sought Google’s assistance to combat vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
The correspondence reveals a level of collaboration between the two that was previously unknown to the public. (Trending: Olympic Gold Medalist Sentenced For Jan 6)
Senator Hawley:
"The Biden Admin systematically—not accidentally—tried to shut down Americans’ free speech on elections, COVID, Hunter Biden & more."
“There is so much censorship that these courts have found. We’ve got a serious problem that goes right to the heart of our… pic.twitter.com/ifGowzRBhG
— AnalyzingAmerica (@AnalyzAmerica) December 5, 2023
Former White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty emailed Google team members to “connect […] about the work you’re doing to combat vaccine hesitancy, but also crack down on vaccine misinformation,” according to the documents.
“Really [Flaherty’s] interested in what we’re seeing that is NOT coming down,” read an internal Google email between employees.
“There is a very high degree of interest now coming from the White House now regarding vaccine misinfo/vaccine hesitancy and our work around borderline content,” read an internal YouTube email on the following day.
“Unfortunately, the role of tech in addressing vaccine hesitancy is about to come under a massive spotlight particularly as the supply of the vaccine is soon to outpace demand,” wrote Biden’s former campaign member.
“Over the last several weeks, the Google & YT GAAP team have had conversations with the White House staff on YouTube’s policies and all the great work that is being done to raise authoritative information and fight harmful misinformation related to COVID-19 misinformation,” the email stated.
The Government Affairs team then asked if the YouTube Product team could meet directly with White House officials because “[White House] staff continue[d] to have questions on the raise/reduce efforts,” related to supposed misinformation.
“…we believe having the opportunity for you both to share more background would be hugely beneficial as we seek to work closely with this administration on multiple policy fronts,” the Government Affairs team wrote.
The House Judiciary Committee obtained the documents, prompting concerns about the government’s involvement in social media censorship.
Rep. Jim Jordan said, “We knew the Biden White House worked to censor American speech with the help of Big Tech. Internal documents from Google obtained by the Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee show that their scheme extended to YouTube.”
“The Committees will continue their critical investigative work to protect Americans’ First Amendment rights and put an end to the vast government censorship enterprise,” he continued.
YouTube wrote in response to the accusations, “While we receive input from governments around the world, we apply our policies independently, transparently, and consistently, regardless of the speaker or the political views expressed.”
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