The statements by businessman Elon Musk, owner of for the suspension of accounts of Brazilian users who use the platform, including parliamentarians.
The case reached Washington before it was even debated in Brasília. This is because representatives of the US House have been investigating for more than a year, specifically through a select subcommittee, alleged abuses by Joe Biden's Democratic government, involving illegal partnerships between federal agencies and the private sector to limit freedom of expression, with highlighting critical opinions regarding its management.
The latest events revealed in Brazil, from Twitter Files, have placed the country on the US radar, as a kind of laboratory for analysis and prevention of the same censorship practices being propagated in the American territory, especially in the period in which they approach the presidential elections in November, when Biden must once again face Republican Donald Trump at the polls. As the House report itself says, the “corrosion of basic democratic values by foreign authorities serves as a stark warning to Americans about the threats posed by government censorship.”
The Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Representative Jim Jordan, has already discovered serious violations of the First Amendment committed by Washington executive officials, involving large technology and commerce companies. Among the violations is the White House's coercion against Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) to censor information, satire and even memes.
Investigations released last year by the Committee revealed a series of documents that confirm this censorious practice by the Biden administration. The White House pressured Facebook to omit content that raised questions or criticized the Covid-19 vaccine. Officials responsible for the Democrat's digital strategy justified their request to remove content from the platform on the grounds that they did not trust Americans to be able to correctly select what was true about the pandemic.
Following the request, Facebook did not remove the content, but reduced the reach of the posts and created a statement about that type of post. At the time, an employee of the platform, anonymously, confirmed that publications of this type had been “downgraded” in their reach and the following statement began to appear to users: “this is not false information, but it leads to a negative environment for the vaccine.”
Jordan published on his official profile on X, on that occasion, that even a meme had been affected by censorship by the Democratic government.
House investigations also found that the Biden administration pressured the world's largest online bookstore, Amazon, to censor the sale of certain books during the pandemic. According to the portal Daily Signalthe affected works were also related to criticism or questions about the effectiveness of Covid vaccines.
Amazon employees were summoned to a meeting at the White House in March 2021, when the company reportedly changed its algorithms to avoid promoting books considered “anti-vaccines” by the government.
Government partnership with universities
Another form of violation of the First Amendment revealed by the Committee was the federal government's partnership with Stanford University to create an “electoral integrity” commission in 2020, known by the acronym EIP (Election Integrity Partnership, in English). The renowned educational institution was in charge of carrying out a process of identification and censorship of publications in the digital environment, functioning as an internet monitor for the Biden government during the 2020 elections.
As the Chamber's document showed, EIP “analysts” scoured social media in search of publications they considered worthy of censorship. Once they identified it on one platform, they looked for similar content on the others.
By collecting links to the posts, the commission sent those assessed as most “dangerous” directly to the platforms with specific recommendations on how they should censor the posts. The options given by the commission were to reduce the discoverability of posts; the suspension of profiles for 12 hours; the monitoring of certain influencer accounts; and removal of thousands of posts.
The documents revealed by the Judiciary Committee of the United States House show the White House's actions similar to what is happening in Brazil. Washington has a specific government sector to deal with matters involving violations of freedom and democracy, the State Department's Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights.
However, amid serious allegations of internet censorship, inside and outside the country, Joe Biden's government has maintained a stance of inaction.
The companies mentioned in the reports were contacted to comment on the matter, but there was no response until the article was published. The space remains open for future demonstrations.
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