Jim Jordan launches 'misinformation' investigation to uncover Biden 'censorship' scheme

Gabe Kaminsky

EXCLUSIVE — House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is unveiling an investigation into a purported "misinformation" tracking group he says engaged in "censorship" of disfavored speech on social media alongside the Biden administration.

Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British nonprofit group with an affiliated U.S. charity, was accused in a Monday lawsuit by X Corp., formerly Twitter, of making "false" claims after alleging hate speech spiked on the platform since Elon Musk's October takeover. Now, Jordan is demanding the center hand over records by Aug. 17 that could detail the extent of its White House-linked efforts targeting the First Amendment, according to a letter the chairman sent to the center on Thursday.

"We know from the Facebook Files that the Center for Countering Digital Hate was working with the White House to censor speech," a senior GOP congressional aide with knowledge of the inquiry said. "But how far did it go? Republicans want to find out, and of course subpoenas are on the table if we don’t get answers."

Jordan's letter, which was first obtained by the Washington Examiner, is the latest escalation of the GOP's efforts to investigate how the federal government has, in some cases, coordinated with the private sector to flag certain speech, including speech related to COVID-19, as "disinformation" or "misinformation." The chairman has recently been publicizing subpoenaed documents from Facebook, now called Meta, showing how the platform kept in close contact with the Biden administration on content moderation.

Further sets of emails produced in connection to that subpoena, which have not been reported on until now and were shared with the Washington Examiner, shed light on Center for Countering Digital Hate's influence among top Facebook staffers and the highest levels of government.

In April 2021, an employee at Facebook replied on an email thread dubbed "Vaccine policy" to their colleagues with a "draft escalation email" to be used internally, citing Center for Countering Digital Hate's March 2021 report called "The Disinformation Dozen," according to records. The report cited individuals the center alleged "are twelve anti-vaxxers who play leading roles in spreading digital misinformation about COVID vaccines," and counts Democratic 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as one of them.

"We also continue to see pressure from partners and policymakers, including the White House, to remove entities that are seen to be contributing to a large amount of vaccine misinformation content (commonly referred to as the 'disinformation dozen' which CCDH asserts are responsible for 73% of vaccine misinformation on Facebook)," the employee wrote to their colleagues.

The email continued, "We continue to monitor these entities on platform, and are reviewing the off platform as well, but do not believe we currently have a clear path for removal of these."

Nick Clegg, Facebook's former communications vice president and now-global affairs president for Meta, then sent a May 1, 2021, email to Andy Slavitt, who at the time was senior adviser to the COVID-19 response coordinator, according to records obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Clegg told Slavitt, however, that those outlined in the "Disinformation Dozen" document "do not violate our policies or have ceased posting violating content," noting that Facebook's policies are still "designed to remove groups and pages that are dedicated to sharing vaccine discouraging content and we continue to review and enforce on these when we become aware of them."

"I realise that our position on this continues to be a particular concern for you which is why our teams regularly engage with a range of experts to check whether we are striking the right balance here," Clegg wrote in the email.

Meta did not reply to a Washington Examiner request for comment. Spokesman Andy Stone recently told Forbes Meta "will continue to comply, as we have thus far, with good faith requests" from Jordan.

"We are interested in understanding the interactions between the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and the federal government in particular, as well as between CCDH and social media companies," Jordan wrote in his letter to the center's CEO Imran Ahmed. "CCDH claims that 'social media companies erode basic human rights and civil liberties by enabling the spread of online hate and disinformation.'"

In his letter, Jordan asked the center for communications dating back to January 2015 between itself and employees, contractors, or representatives with the executive branch or social media companies "referring or relating to the moderation, deletion, suppression, restriction, demonetization, or reduced circulation of content" as well as "the accuracy or truth of content" and "the attribution of content to the source or participant in a foreign malign or state-sponsored influence operation."

The chairman also requested a list of employees, contractors, or agents for the center who "have communicated" with tech companies or the government on content moderation — and details on contracts or grants received from the U.S. government on this practice.

Jordan's letter comes weeks after the conservative group America First Legal announced its move to initiate a flurry of records requests to agencies, including the FBI and State Department, to uncover possible government communications with Center for Countering Digital Hate and Ahmed.

In May 2021, White House staffer Rob Flaherty notably sent an email to a Facebook employee to flag a widely-shared post he seemingly argued underscored how Facebook wasn't doing enough to moderate content, according to documents. The post, by an account named Dee Roy, depicted a man with a mask holding a sign railing against masks and vaccines.

"Seems like your 'dedicated vaccine hesitancy' policy isn't stopping the disinfo dozen — they're being deemed as not dedicated — so it feels like that problem likely carries over to groups," Flaherty wrote in the email.

Gene Hamilton, AFL's vice president and general counsel, told the Washington Examiner it's concerning a "foreign operation" like the center is trying to tell U.S. citizens what they ought to be able to post online.

"Why do we even begin to care what they have to say?" Hamilton said. "But apparently, some people — most notably the Biden White House — have been willing to do their bidding inside the United States. There is more than meets the eye, and I think people will be surprised about what they find."

Center for Countering Digital Hate did not return a request for comment.

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