The Biden Administration Sees Free Speech as a Public Menace

Politico reported that the disinformation board was supposed to “coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security, focused specifically on irregular migration and Russia.” But when a reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki about the working group on April 28, she said, “it sounds like the objective of the board is to prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling around the country in a range of communities.” She added, “I’m not sure who opposes that effort.”
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That broad description of the board’s mission, combined with Psaki’s apparent obliviousness to the civil liberties issues raised by government efforts to “prevent disinformation and misinformation from traveling,” seemed to validate the concerns of conservative critics.

In a Feb. 7 National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin, DHS identified “the proliferation of false or misleading narratives” that “sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions” as one of three “key factors contributing to the current heightened threat environment.” Those narratives, it said, included claims about election fraud and COVID-19, which fed “grievances” that “inspired violent extremist attacks during 2021.”

That view of controversial speech is consistent with the Biden administration’s attitude toward COVID-19 “misinformation,” which it has urged social media platforms to suppress. Given the power that the executive branch wields over those companies, such pressure can easily lead to censorship by proxy.

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