Marsha Blackburn Slams ‘Authoritarian’ Joe Biden for Working with Big Tech to Censor Americans

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday, demanding to know why the administration is coordinating with big tech companies to censor Americans’ free speech regarding the coronavirus.

Blackburn wrote the missive about the Biden administration’s latest scheme to flag content on Facebook it considers to be coronavirus “disinformation.” Blackburn also noted Americans banned on one social media platform should also be banned on similar big tech platforms.

The Tennessee conservative said the Biden administration’s actions “mirror” the worst aspects of authoritarian countries such as Cuba:

These revelations are deeply concerning.  The blatant actions by your administration to work with big tech companies to censor Americans’ free speech are shocking – and arguably a violation of the First Amendment.  Communist countries such as Cuba are currently taking away their citizens’ right to use the internet to communicate; the U.S. government should be standing up to, not looking to mirror, authoritarian regimes such as these.

Blackburn also demanded to know what criteria the Biden administration uses to censor Americans and how they determine what coronavirus “disinformation” is:

1. What criteria are you directing social media platforms to use to flag and remove posts?
2. What criteria are you directing social media platforms to use to ban users?
3. In your July 15th press briefing, you stated that 12 people are responsible for “65 percent of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms.”  Who are those accounts and have they, or others, been removed at your direction?
4. What is the legal basis for your Administration’s decision to direct social media platforms to flag and remove posts from their sites?
5. Does the White House have staff dedicated to searching social media for content to flag for removal?

“We are in regular touch with the social media platforms and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff and also members of our COVID-19 team,” Psaki told reporters last week. She added “this is a big issue, of misinformation, specifically on the pandemic.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.