Efforts to track foreign mis- and disinformation under former President Donald Trump have since been “perverted” under President Joe Biden to increasingly monitor what Americans say on social media, former Trump administration officials told the Daily Caller.
Officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which was formed in 2018 under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have exerted previously unknown levels of direct government influence over American speech on tech platforms, a report from the Intercept found.
The crackdown on “misinformation” has allegedly grown even after the dissolution of the Disinformation Governance Board. CISA, FBI, and other government officials have been holding monthly meetings with tech executives and even, in the case of Facebook, been given special access to flag posts online, the outlet reported, citing leaked documents.
Chad Wolf, former acting secretary of the DHS, told the Caller that the report “is very concerning” and that “the federal government has no business in monitoring or regulating the protected free speech of Americans.”
