MRC Free Speech America has exposed two more federal entities — the White House and the Department of Commerce — actively involved in censoring Americans during the Biden administration, adding to previously identified federal censors. This report details how these entities collaborated with Big Tech to control the narrative around COVID-19 and vaccines.
The White House, as outlined in reports by House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), consistently pressured social media companies to censor content. Internal emails from February 2021 revealed Facebook’s coordination with the White House to suppress opinions on COVID-19 origins and vaccine skepticism. The administration’s aggressive stance extended to demanding the removal of accounts, such as vaccine critic Alex Berenson, and pushing YouTube to alter its policies to eliminate anti-vaccine content.
Amazon also faced similar pressures, as evidenced by the most recent Amazon Files, which revealed that the platform buried dozens of books critical of vaccines, in compliance with the White House’s directives.
The Department of Commerce, through the U.S. Census Bureau, played a significant role in these censorship efforts by working with the CDC. Judge Terry A. Doughty’s court ruling highlighted that the Census Bureau provided the CDC with misinformation reports and coordinated with social media platforms to flag and remove content. Regular meetings and detailed slide decks focused on “misinformation topics” like vaccine side effects and infertility concerns were part of this effort.
The Biden administration’s extensive use of federal power to influence and direct the censorship activities of major tech companies represents a significant challenge to free speech. MRC Free Speech America’s findings reveal a deeply coordinated campaign to control public discourse during the pandemic, raising serious questions about government overreach and the protection of civil liberties.
