House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan demanded answers in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday about testimony from an FBI analyst who suggested officials used a “software tool” to post election-related statements on social media to pursue.
The analyst claimed during a discussion with the Committee and Select Subcommittee on Arming the Federal Government that the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) division of the FBI used the tool for “searching open source databases for content that indicates criminal behavior”.
“According to the analyst’s statement, the FBI uses this tool to monitor social media posts from users, whether the users are American citizens or foreign actors, to look for ‘content that suggests criminal activity.’ point out behavior,’” Jordan wrote.
“The analyst further stated that the FBI shares its findings, such as the specific ‘username and content’ of posts, with social media companies to appropriately censor such content.”
Did the FBI use a software tool to spy on you during election season?
Seems so. pic.twitter.com/C0eo4A9mti
– House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) November 12, 2024
The phrase “content indicative of criminal conduct” was further explored during testimony, and when asked how broad the scope of the searches were, the office’s legal team weighed in.
“Although the analyst testified that the FBI uses this tool to track ‘criminal behavior,’ the agency’s attorney repeatedly prevented the analyst from fully answering the committee’s questions when asked about the nature of the software tool and the scope of its exploit was questioned during the operation by the FBI. Jordan wrote.
“That is why we are writing to seek additional information to understand whether the FBI has used or could use this software tool to censor or violate lawful speech, particularly American political speech.”
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee posted a copy of the letter on X and asked, “Did the FBI use a software tool to spy on you during the election season?”
“It seems so,” they concluded.
Jordan’s letter to Director Wray can be read below.
Letter from the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to the FBI on the topic: Possible spying on election speeches from gravel bf5 on Scribd
Americans will recognize this example of the FBI extending its election interference tentacles into social media and completely suppressing free speech as the norm, not the exception.
They tipped the balance in the 2020 presidential election by intimidating Facebook and Twitter (now X) into censoring stories about the New York Post bombshell Hunter Biden’s laptop story.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made jaws drop when he admitted that Facebook had throttled information about the laptop scandal in the days leading up to this election, in part because the FBI approached them with a message was that had all the intricacies of a mafia boss meeting.
Facebook constrained exposure of the laptop messages after receiving a warning from the office to be on the lookout for Russian propaganda around the same time that this particular story broke. *wink, wink*
Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan that the visit from the FBI, which he described as a “legitimate institution,” caused him to take their warning “seriously,” and subsequently admitted that Facebook was limiting the reach of any posts involving the laptop , algorithmically throttled.
He said that while they weren’t special When they were told to focus on the Hunter Biden story, they did so anyway because “it basically fit the pattern” they had been warned about.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki flatly admitted during the pandemic that the government worked with Facebook to report “disinformation” about vaccines and COVID-19.
Psaki’s surprise admission, a coordinated attempt by the government to seize control of information along with a vast private social media company, seemed at the time like something one might hear from a country that uses state media.
“We are in regular contact with the social media platforms and those interactions typically occur through members of our senior staff and also members of our COVID-19 team,” Psaki told reporters.
“We have increased disinformation research and tracking in the Surgeon General’s office,” she added. “We flag problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.”
.@PressSec: “We flag problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.” pic.twitter.com/xTCvg3tyFQ
– Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 15, 2021
Blatant censorship. Way too many documented examples. And now the FBI is once again accused of “spying” on Americans in order to censor election-related content.
If Russia itself had acted as the Justice Department did in the last two presidential election cycles, it would have been no better at interference efforts.
Jordan’s letter requests that Wray and the FBI provide a briefing on the FBI’s exploit of the “software tool” by Nov. 26.
RedState will let readers know when there is an answer.
