Feds Tried To Hide the Outsourcing of Their Censorship

(RightWing.org) – House Republicans are continuing their efforts to restore law and order to executive branch agencies since they assumed control of the House in January. The House Judiciary Committee and its companion select subcommittee probing the weaponization of the federal government have held several public hearings looking into White House efforts to throttle conservative voices. A new report revealed a concerted effort by the feds to outsource their far-reaching online censorship efforts.

On June 26, the House Judiciary Committee issued a statement detailing the release of an interim report discussing efforts by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to collude with Big Tech companies and “disinformation partners” to restrict Americans’ free speech.

The report discussed the results of an exhaustive investigation by the Weaponization of the Federal Government Select Subcommittee. Emails and internal memos show that CISA, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, colluded with social media platforms and other tech companies using “government-funded third parties” to spearhead its censorship efforts “by proxy” to hide its “unconstitutional” activities.

State and local election officials used the EI-ISAC in an effort to silence critics and political opponents like @SenTedCruz. pic.twitter.com/ztU39EgtCD

— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) June 26, 2023

The report also revealed several disturbing practices.

CISA transferred its censorship operations to a government-funded group in the wake of a lawsuit against the agency and the Biden administration.
CISA considered creating a “rapid response team” to deploy nationwide to combat misinformation.
CISA officials “scrubbed” its website of references to its “censorship activities” and “domestic surveillance.”

In some instances, leading Republican lawmakers were caught up in the censorship efforts. For example, when Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) rhetorically asked why it takes Democratic-led cities days to count their votes when the rest of the country accomplishes that feat on election night, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Secretary of State took issue with his question and targeted him by using a reporting portal operated by the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center. It’s a government-funded “collaborative” partner of CISA, the Center for Internet Security, and the Infrastructure Subsector’s Government Coordinating Council.