WASHINGTON, DC — “I know you are determined to take Twitter in a new direction. The American people are relieved at this fresh approach,” Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) wrote to new Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Monday. Pfluger wants Musk to give him information.
First term Congressman Pfluger has been building his profile as a national security and homeland security expert in Congress. He currently sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the only Texas Republican on that committee’s Europe, Energy, the Environment, and Cyber Subcommittee. Democrat Vincente Gonzalez (TX-15) sits across the aisle on that same subcommittee. Pfluger is also on the Foreign Affairs Committee’s Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, Migration, and International Economic Policy subcommittee (as too is Gonzalez). Pfluger is also assigned to the Committee on Homeland Security and sits on the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee. As a member of these committees, Pfluger receives intelligence briefings that inform the points he made in his letter to Musk.
Pfluger wrote to Musk that he was concerned that foreign agents had infiltrated the former Twitter.
Other key points of Pfluger’s letter to Musk:
- Social media companies proactively and many times incorrectly label viewpoints as misinformation or disinformation
- He expressed his concern about “deep ties” and collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, an agency he oversees as a member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
- He noted that the banning of the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop is an example of active collaboration between the former Twitter and U.S. Government agencies
- He asked for help to ensure lawmakers like himself “understand the depth of collaboration large social media companies had with government agencies when labeling disinformation.”
Pfluger asked Musk to report any censorship requests received from the Biden Administration, to include the White House, cabinet-level departments, or agency.
An October 31, 2022 investigative piece in The Intercept_ outlines how the Department of Homeland Security has worked with social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to mold public opinion by combatting “disinformation” and “misinformation.”
The Intercept_ reports, “According to a draft copy of DHS’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, DHS’s capstone report outlining the department’s strategy and priorities in the coming years, the department plans to target “inaccurate information” on a wide range of topics, including “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.””
A videoed interview with Joe Hyde and Congressman August Pfluger conducted on Jan. 4, 2021 was censored and taken down by YouTube for violating its “community standards” about reporting anything other than that the 2020 election was fair and secure. At that time, in that video interview, Pfluger explained his decision to vote against the certification of the Nov. 3, 2020 election. His decision was driven by his many constituents who expressed to him that they wanted the election investigated. The only hope to obtain an investigation would be to raise objections, Pfluger said at the time. We believed the interview was news because it offered constituents a first hand look at their congressman’s reasoning for the way he planned to vote on that very controversial subject.
Since that January 4, 2021 interview, YouTube modified their policies and removed the video while also giving San Angelo LIVE! a “strike” for “disinformation.”
Well-known Journalist Glenn Greenwald launched a new live stream program this week called “System Update” and his first episode expanded on how the current Administration appears to want to prevent free speech using government collusion with social media companies.
“We believe there is no more urgent issue than the [ongoing] full-scale, multi-pronged attack on free speech on the internet. The censorship regime they are constructing will enable them to propagandize the population without challenge and fully control the flow of information,” Greenwald said in his introduction to the show. Greenwald launched the show on Rumble due to his mistrust that YouTube, a Google company, will allow free speech.
Watch the show here:
Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation released a report primarily summarizing The Intercept_'s findings that is titled, "When Government Colludes With Big Tech to Censor Americans" on Nov. 9. Read it here.
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Here's to pre-Elon Twitter:
https://youtu.be/jk9NLUyYEpw
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