Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is calling on big tech companies to censor allegations of election misinformation, conveniently ignoring his history debunking the Trump-Russia collusion theory. .
Democratic Representative Adam Schiff is currently calling on big tech companies to take aggressive action to combat the spread of so-called “misinformation” and “disinformation” ahead of the 2024 election. are. But Schiff's sudden concerns about election integrity, given his prominent role in spreading the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, one of the most virulent political conspiracy theories in recent memory, sounds empty.
In a letter sent this week to the CEOs of Meta, expressed caution about the “threat” of Lawmakers asked tech giants how they plan to change their content moderation policies to crack down on users who share “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
“As technology on social media platforms rapidly expands, companies must redouble their efforts to combat issues that threaten our democracy,” the letter said, noting that online misinformation poses a risk to elections. He cited the results of a survey.
But given Schiff's own background, Schiff's sudden role as a campaigner against election disinformation is deeply ironic and hypocritical. For years, Schiff has used his position as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee to push baseless claims and misleading insinuations about alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Despite the lack of concrete evidence, Schiff has repeatedly appeared on cable news claiming there is “horrifying” evidence of a Trump-Russia conspiracy that goes beyond “circumstantial evidence.” He falsely claimed that the FBI was not abusing the FISA warrant process to surveil President Trump's aide Carter Page.
After Nunes' memo revealed FBI misconduct, Schiff pressured social media companies to “expose” and “disable” accounts sharing the memo, baselessly linking it to Russia. He claimed that they were related. However, Twitter executives found no significant Russian activity behind the “Publish Memo” hashtag.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation ultimately found no evidence of a Trump-Russia conspiracy and thoroughly debunked a long series of allegations and innuendos by Schiff.
Schiff's letter comes as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook restricted distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop article in 2020 following an FBI warning about Russian disinformation. It was carried out following. Zuckerberg now says he made a mistake in suppressing the story.
As Breitbart News reported:
In a letter to Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg said: I wrote Facebook reportedly continued to remove articles after being warned by the FBI about a possible “Russian disinformation campaign” about President Joe Biden's family. new york post.
In response to an article about “corruption allegations” related to the Biden family, Facebook “sent the article to fact checkers” and “temporarily demoted it.”
“It has since become clear that this report was not Russian disinformation. In hindsight, we should not have downgraded the story,” Zuckerberg added. “We've changed our policies and processes to ensure this doesn't happen again. For example, we no longer temporarily downgrade things while waiting for fact checkers in the US.”
Breitbart News will continue to report on Silicon Valley's election interference.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering free speech and online censorship issues.
