Oversight Republicans: The Biden Administration Continues to Suppress Free Speech and Discredit Legitimate Criticism

Seek to understand DHS’s taxpayer-funded censorship campaign on issues important to the national discourse

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and several Oversight Committee Republicans reiterated concerns over reports indicating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to operate a taxpayer-funded censorship campaign to target online speech and discredit legitimate criticism of the Biden Administration. In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Republican lawmakers emphasize that any campaign by the agency to silence narratives that contradict the Administration’s preferred perspective is unacceptable and are seeking all documents and communications related to the inception and operation of any online content monitoring program hosted by or in partnership with DHS.

“We write to continue our investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to stifle lawful First Amendment-protected speech of American citizens in public online settings,” wrote the Republican lawmakers. “The Biden Administration continues to suppress free speech and discredit legitimate criticism as mis-, dis-, or mal- information. Committee Republicans have now become aware of an extensive censorship campaign originating within DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). This effort leverages partnerships with third parties to silence narratives that contradict the Administration’s preferred perspectives on issues important to the national discourse. While the Administration publicly paused the creation of its ‘Disinformation Governance Board,’ DHS continues to suppress dissenting viewpoints.”

New reports reveal CISA leverages partnerships with left-leaning private organizations to identify and target political speech unfavorable to the Administration, especially around its handling of COVID-19 policy. This effort began after CISA partnered with left-leaning organizations and Big Tech companies to launch the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). EIP’s complaint-processing platform enabled groups—including the Democratic National Committee—to submit concerns and were resolved by the online user being deplatformed or restricted. 

“The federal government should not be censoring free speech,” continued the Republican lawmakers. “Further, your agency is poorly positioned to moderate speech on social media. In fact, you deliberately spread disinformation in a White House press conference last year surrounding false allegations that your Border Patrol Agents were whipping Haitian migrants at the border in Del Rio, Texas. E-mails now reveal that you were made aware—hours before these comments—that the photographer who captured the images you were referring to told news outlets that he and his colleagues ‘never saw agents whipping anyone.’ Armed with the truth, you still perpetuated a false narrative that agents were whipping migrants at the border.”

Read the letter here.