Rep. Jim Jordan warns he may hold Zuckerberg in contempt
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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday shared what he called "smoking-gun documents" proving Facebook censored Americans on behalf of the Biden administration in a lengthy social media thread.
Jordan wrote the all-caps message, "THE FACEBOOK FILES, PART 1: SMOKING-GUN DOCS PROVE FACEBOOK CENSORED AMERICANS BECAUSE OF BIDEN WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE," before diving into the lengthy thread reminiscent of the so-called "Twitter Files" used earlier this year to disclose once-internal documents given to journalists once Elon Musk bought the social media platform.
"Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House," Jordan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"During the first half of 2021, social media companies like Facebook faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House—both publicly and privately—to crack down on alleged ‘misinformation,’" he continued. "In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: ‘We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House’ to remove posts."
Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, shared what he calls "smoking-gun documents" proving Facebook censored Americans on behalf of the White House. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jordan then wrote that an April 2021 email revealed that a Facebook executive informed his team that a Biden administration senior adviser was "outraged" that Facebook did not remove a particular post. The post, according to Jordan, was a meme of actor Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at a TV with the caption, "10 years from now you will be watching TV and hear… Did you or a loved one take the COVID vaccine? You may be entitled to…"
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Facebook noted that "removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US," but Andy Slavitt, the Biden senior adviser who was worked up over the meme, "disregarded the warning and the First Amendment," according to Jordan.
"What happened next? Facebook panicked," Jordan wrote. "In another April 2021 email, Brian Rice, Facebook’s VP of public policy, raised the concern that Slavitt's challenge felt ‘very much like a crossroads for us with the [Biden] White House in these early days.’"
Jordan noted that "Facebook wanted to repair its relationship with the White House to avoid adverse action," and provided a document in which someone who appears to be a Facebook staffer wrote, "Given what is at stake here, it would also be a good idea if we could regroup and take stock of where we are in our relations with the [White House], and our internal methods too," in an internal document.
"This wasn’t the first time that the Biden White House was angry that Facebook didn’t censor more," Jordan wrote before listing other examples.
"In July 2021, President Biden publicly denounced Facebook and other social media platforms, claiming they were ‘killing people’ by not censoring alleged ‘misinformation,’" Jordan wrote. "On August 2, 2021, Facebook admitted it was going to change its policies because of pressure from the Biden White House."
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Facebook is accused of censoring Americans on behalf of the White House. (Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Jordan then wrote that "it wasn't just the White House," because "Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden's Surgeon General, censoring members of the ‘disinformation dozen'" for sharing claims about COVID.
"These documents, AND OTHERS that were just produced to the Committee, prove that the Biden Admin abused its powers to coerce Facebook into censoring Americans, preventing free and open discourse on issues of critical public importance," Jordan wrote.
"Only after the Committee announced its intention to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt did Facebook produce ANY internal documents to the Committee, including these documents, which PROVE that government pressure was directly responsible for censorship on Facebook," he continued. "Based on Facebook’s newfound commitment to fully cooperate with the Committee’s investigation, the Committee has decided to hold contempt in abeyance. For now. To be clear, contempt is still on the table and WILL be used if Facebook fails to cooperate in FULL."
Jordan ended his thread with, "To be continued…"
Facebook and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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