Dana Perino accuses Biden of 'policing free speech' after expose reveals FBI, DHS in bed with tech giants
WASHINGTON, DC: After the media exposed that intelligence agencies are working closely with tech giants to monitor what they term "disinformation", Dana Perino, Fox News host, who also served as White House press secretary under President George W Bush called it "Orwellian nonsense" on the her show 'The Five,' while her cohost on the show, Greg Gutfeld, called it a "PR movement".
On Monday, 31st Oct, the Intercepts investigative journalist Lee Fang broke the story. The "explosive" report suggests that the Department of Homeland security is "quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech". The expose stated that, "hundreds of internal documents expose top US government agencies working closely with social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to censor American freedom of speech — under the guise of fighting disinformation — over several years."
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“We looked at really hundreds of documents that paint a vivid picture of the [Federal Bureau of Investigation], the [Department of Homeland Security] closely collaborating with the top social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, to censor various forms of content under the banner of fighting disinformation,” Fang who appeared on Tuker Carlson's 'Tonight' show, soon after the report was released.
Fang said the report shows a "very cozy" relationship between the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and tech giants with monthly meetings for coordinating action. The tech companies like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media, met monthly with the FBI, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Security Agency, and other government representatives before the 2020 elections.
During the penal discussion, Perino talked about the leak, and while reading from one of the documents, which said, “one could argue we’re in the business of critical infrastructure and the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure.” She said, “That is some Orwellian nonsense,” the Fox News host declared, adding, “What does that even mean? What is cognitive infrastructure? That means your brain?” “I don’t think the government, doesn’t need to be involved in my brain,” Perino continued, adding, “I’m good,”
Her co-host, Greg Gutfeld said these are all areas where “Democrats don’t look good,” noting that this is basically something you would see with a Public Relations firm. They are doing the PR leg-work for the Democrats and the White House. It’s a PR movement.”
The Biden administration had announced earlier this year that its Department of Homeland Security would create a Disinformation Governance Board, which many conservative politicians said would crack down on freedom of speech in an unconstitutional and Orwellian move. After facing massive opposition, and ridicule federal authorities shut down the Disinformation Governance Board in August — more than three months after announcing a pause on the Board’s work. The Intercept report, however, said that documents collected by them from a variety of sources, including current officials and publicly available reports, "reveal the evolution of more active measures by DHS."
Twitter, as per the report, denied the report's accusations in a statement saying the platform “[does] not coordinate with other entities when making content moderation decisions, adding officials “independently evaluate content in line with the Twitter Rules.”