According to new files released by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry via his multi-state censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration, the White House requested that Facebook censor Fox News’ Tucker Carlson for expressing criticism of COVID-19 vaccines.
In an email sent to a Facebook employee on April 14, 2021, White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty wrote, “Since we’ve been on the phone – the top post about vaccines today is Tucker Carlson saying they don’t work. Yesterday it was Tomi Lahren saying she won’t take one.”
The emails are the latest in a string of revelations about the extent of collusion between the Biden Administration and tech companies to suppress coronavirus debate.
President Joe Biden speaks to the press as he stops for ice cream in Portland, Oregon, on October 15, 2022. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Landry secured the emails through Louisiana and Missouri’s lawsuit against the administration, which alleges it conspired with tech companies to suppress the First Amendment rights of American citizens.
The emails show Flaherty stating, “This is exactly why I want to know what ‘Reduction’ actually looks like — if ‘reduction’ means ‘pumping our most vaccine hesitant audience with Tucker Carlson saying it doesn’t work, then… I’m not sure it’s reduction!”
Facebook speedily responded, with an employee assuring Flaherty that the company was “running this down.”
In a follow-up email, Facebook also assured the White House that it would censor Robert Kennedy Jr., a vocal vaccine skeptic.
The revelations came shortly before a new release of the Twitter Files, released via journalist and critic of coronavirus policy Alex Berenson, which revealed Pfizer used the same lobbyist as the White House to pressure the platform to suppress debate on coronavirus vaccines.
The case is State of Missouri and State of Louisiana v. Joseph R. Biden, No. 3:22-cv-01213 in District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.