MRC Free Speech America has uncovered two additional federal entities working to censor Americans, expanding on previous revelations of seven federal censors within the Biden administration. This new report highlights the White House and the Department of Commerce’s involvement in silencing dissenting voices, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The White House played a central role in pushing Big Tech companies to censor content. House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) revealed multiple reports showing how the Biden administration pressured social media platforms to suppress COVID-19 and vaccine-related content. In February 2021, internal emails showed Facebook coordinated with the White House to censor topics such as the theory that COVID-19 was man-made or leaked from a lab in China. The administration even requested the removal of specific accounts, including COVID-19 vaccine critic Alex Berenson, demonstrating the extent of their censorship efforts.
Similarly, YouTube faced pressure from the White House to eliminate anti-vaccine content. Internal communications revealed that YouTube adjusted its policies in September 2021 to remove content questioning vaccines following directives from the White House.
Additionally, the most recent release of Jordan’s Amazon Files disclosed that Amazon buried 43 book titles critical of vaccines, many published before the pandemic, under White House pressure.
The Department of Commerce, via the U.S. Census Bureau, also joined the censorship efforts by collaborating with the CDC. According to a court ruling by Louisiana Chief District Judge Terry A. Doughty, the Census Bureau provided misinformation reports to the CDC, guiding social media platforms on what content to censor. This collaboration involved regular meetings and detailed slide decks identifying “misinformation topics” for removal.
MRC Free Speech America’s report underscores the coordinated efforts by federal entities to control the narrative and suppress free speech during the pandemic.