FBI Chief Denies Agency ‘Moderating’ Social Media

Topline

FBI Director Christopher Wray denied allegations that the agency pressures social media companies to censor content and said it’s primarily focused on disinformation from “foreign hostile actors,” he told the House Judiciary Committee in a heated hearing Wednesday that comes as the agency has faced mounting criticism from Republicans claiming it’s been weaponized by the Biden Administration.

FBI Director Christopher Wray is sworn in during a House Judiciary Committee about oversight of the … [+] Federal Bureau of Investigation on Capitol Hill July 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. Conservative House Republicans claim that the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies have been “weaponized” against conservatives, including former U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies. Wray defended the FBI workforce, emphasizing that the agency protects Americans every day “from a staggering array of threats.” (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Wray said “the FBI is not in the business of moderating content or causing any social media company to suppress or censor” in response to questions from Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) about a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Louisiana that bars the Biden Administration, including the FBI, from most communications with social media companies.

Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued the July 4 order in favor of Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri who argued the Biden Administration, with the help of the FBI, engaged in “targeted suppression of conservative ideas” on social media, including opposition to Covid-19 vaccines, masking and lockdowns, the Covid-19 lab-leak theory and stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Wray disputed the plaintiffs’ claims that the FBI suppressed Americans’ First Amendment privileges and said the agency is not focused “on disinformation broadly speaking,” but instead targets “foreign hostile actors who use covert efforts to abuse our social media platforms.”

Wray also denied the Republican attorneys generals’ claims that the FBI, along with other Biden agencies named in the lawsuit, “threatened adverse consequences to social media companies” if they refused to enhance censorship measures: “At the end of the day, we’re very clear that it’s up to the social media companies to decide whether to do something,” Wray said.

Chief Critic

“The American people have lost faith in the FBI. All of our constituents are demanding that we get this situation under control . . . The American people we represent are losing count of the scandals that are mounting,”Johnson said before questioning Wray about the court order and asking him to define “disinformation.”

Contra

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) criticized Republicans for attacking the FBI in what he said was an effort to defend former President Donald Trump. “They seem incapable of assigning any agency or responsibility to Donald Trump for problems that are Trump’s and Trump’s alone,” Nadler said, adding, “When [Republicans] do not like the outcome, they investigate the investigators and work to discredit the outcome.”

Key Background

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee grilled Wray on Wednesday on a litany of issues it’s probing as part of its various investigations into the Biden Administration’s so-called “weaponization of the federal government.” During his appearance, part of regularly scheduled oversight, Wray faced questions about a whistleblower’s claims that the agency slow-walked its investigation into Hunter Biden, along with allegations from Democrats that the agency did not act with enough urgency in investigating Trump’s handling of classified records. Republicans, meanwhile, accused the FBI of acting as a “political tool of the Biden Administration” in executing what Johnson alleged was an unwarranted raid on Mar-A-Lago. House Republicans have increasingly sought to blame Wray for their various grievances—they’ve repeatedly admonished him in letters seeking his testimony and some have introduced legislation to impeach him.

What To Watch For

The Justice Department filed an appeal of Doughty’s order and asked an Appeals Court to issue an emergency stay to pause the injunction, warning that it could have broad interpretations that might go as far as preventing the federal government from debunking fake content in public statements issued on social media platforms.

FBI Chief Denies Agency ‘Moderating’ Social Media—Firing Back At GOP Claims