Vice President Kamala Harris said on Monday that she expects and “would require” social media companies to work with the Biden administration to prevent so-called misinformation and disinformation, and to “protect democracy.”
During an interview with NPR that aired on Monday, Harris was asked for her thoughts regarding the changes made at Twitter since Elon Musk took over the platform.
“I think about this issue a bit differently, which is my deep and profound concern about how misinformation and disinformation have infiltrated information streams in our country,” Harris said.
The vice president pointed to her four years as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, during which she was actively involved in the investigation into alleged Russian interference with the 2016 elections.
Harris said that reports on the matter, both classified and public, showed that there was a “profound amount of intentional disinformation and misinformation targeting specific demographics to take advantage of what might be preexisting disparities and skepticism about the role and importance of government.”
She added that this was allegedly done to weaken American democracy.
Big Tech Must ‘Cooperate’ With Government
“When I see how social media is used in that way, it causes me a very deep level of concern,” Harris said. “So, what I would say about any social media site is this: I fully expect and would require that leaders in that sector cooperate and work with us who are concerned about national security, concerned about upholding and protecting our democracy, to do everything in their power to ensure that there is not a manipulation that is allowed or overlooked that is done with the intention of upending the security of our democracy and our nation.”
The vice president’s comments come amid reports of federal government collusion with Big Tech companies to censor users. White House officials have denied claims that the administration colluded with social media companies to censor free speech on multiple topics, including COVID-19.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Dec. 14 wrote to the five largest tech giants—Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft—demanding documents relating to their alleged censorship practices and the “nature and extent of your companies’ collusion with the Biden Administration.”
“Big Tech is out to get conservatives, and is increasingly willing to undermine First Amendment values by complying with the Biden Administration’s directives that suppress freedom of speech online,” Jordan wrote.
“This approach undermines fundamental American principles and allows powerful government actors to silence political opponents and stifle opposing viewpoints. Publicly available information suggests that your companies’ treatment of certain speakers and content may stem from government directives or guidance designed to suppress dissenting views,” he added.
Dorsey Says Government Seeking to Control Public Conversation
That letter came as Twitter CEO Elon Musk has taken to the platform in recent weeks to unveil the so-called “Twitter Files,” which detail how conservative commentators had their tweets censored by the platform and how staffers worked to suppress a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election.
Following the release of the files, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in a blog post that social media must “be resilient to corporate and government control.”
Dorsey added that governments seek to control and shape the public conversation and will use “every method at their disposal” to do so, which the businessman said includes the media.
“It’s critical that the people have tools to resist this, and that those tools are ultimately owned by the people. Allowing a government or a few corporations to own the public conversation is a path toward centralized control,” Dorsey added.
Bryan Jung contributed to this report.
“Twitter has claimed for years that they make concerted efforts to detect & thwart gov-backed platform manipulation. Here is Twitter testifying to Congress about its pledge to rapidly identify and shut down all state-backed covert information operations & deceptive propaganda,” But twitter didn’t. Under Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter messages that showed there was a longstanding influence campaign by the FBI around the time the New York Post released its report on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Messages show that the FBI paid Twitter $3.4 million between October 2019 and February 2021.
Democrats truth and facts are just a matter of their opinions or the cons that the Democrat Party is running.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, some people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the Democrat Party can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.
It thus becomes vitally important for the Democrat Party to use all of its powers to repress the truth, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the “Democrat Party.”
THE DEMS ARE the biggest threat. PERIOD.
The communists had Pravda as their propaganda arm although the names means ‘truth’. The Nazis had Goebbles who controlled every bit of news and entertainment. Lies, lies and more lies! Social media and news organizations are there to question and hold the administration accountable and not spew the party line, in this case Democrat nonsense, we’ve had that since 202o with COVID and the election. What we learned is government cannot be trusted to tell the truth any longer, with the revelations about Twitter and government agencies manipulating the narrative, even within the administration of Donald Trump, showa a lack of honesty and decency that should be expected from government and the media as diverse as it is!
When this nation wedded Kamala and Joe it was definitely a separation of Church from State wedding service, and a separation of Human integrity from a sane state of mind as well as the minds of the state, whose ability to cripple the human conscience and soul is now so readily displayed in the discombobulated brains of our Kamala and Joe executives, who execute our freedoms like an Epstein in a government protected jail cell. Separation of Social Media and State is what you are supposed to get in a Democracy of free thinkers and speakers of the truths that set men free, but no, here come Kamala and Joe, the Secular Siamese twins joined not only at the hip, but the head to tell us that just the opposite is needed to solve all America’s problems,,,,one poltical party at a time, not the “out of Many One” E Pluribus Unum thing, now making America just one nation out of the many, indistinguishable from the hell-holes of the world that people will break laws to leave and enter the current USA, only to find the same national mediocrity and socialist oppression of thought, speech and honest earned wealth from which they fled. Working with this corrupt Biden administration to prevent so-called misinformation to protect Democracy is a one way ticket to the death of Democracy, and the new-age version of a D. W. Griffith “Birth of a nation”, based solely upon race, now so illegitimate that no sane parent would seek to claim it as their own.
If you want to stop misinformation and outright lies, just fact check what biden has said about how his son died, how he spoke to his father about a medal for his uncle, etc, etc. Once this is acknowledged as lies then I will believe/follow what harris has to say. cackle, cackle.
“Harris Demands Social Media Companies ‘Cooperate And Work With Us’ On ‘Protecting Our Democracy’”
The problem with that statement, Ms Harris, is that none of you are working to protect anything but your own positions and self-interests/
They certainly are not working for WE THE AMERICAN people…
Protect our democracy ?? Then you will Immediately close the southern border. Or does she mean any Conservative or republican comments are to be immediately censored and given to the FBI??
The latter.. based on what we’ve already been witness to.
VP Harris needs to stay up to date with the goings on in social media land. She must not be aware that Musk bought Twitter and restored free speech to that platform! She also doesn’t understand that our new Republican house control will be investigating the ex-Twitter big shots and the FBI who colluded with Twitter to censor conservative speech. If she thinks the dems will be continuing to censor conservative speech – SHE HAS ANOTHER THING COMING!!!
WAKE UP AMERICA AND BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ANY CENSORSHIP OF CONSERVATIVE SPEECH AND REPORT THAT TO YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPS!!!
Social media has been cooperating with government and has even been controlled by government, not to protect democracy, but to do the opposite.
If you look up the most despotic governments you will find about a dozen consistently have the word “Democratic” somewhere in the name. Harris is a “Democrat” too, which is probably best defined as the American Marxist Party. Lying is a way of life for these vermin, as to them the end justifies the means. And the “end” means taking away our freedom to their enrichment.
“…former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in a blog post that social media must “be resilient to corporate and government control.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Dorsey the Twitter CEO throughout the Pandemic when “misinformation” (anything the government disagrees with) was banned? Wasn’t he CEO when the Post was banned because of the Hunter laptop story?
As far as the government working with Social media to weed out disinformation (again, anything the government disagrees with), does she mean, the Russian collusion hoax, good people on both sides hoax, both impeachment scams, almost anything Faucci said about the Pandemic, the vaccine would stop the spread, the Laptop story, the borders are secure, the economy is great, electric cars will save the planet, the January 6th insurrection myth, …etc? I could go on and on, but you get the point. The government should not be taking action on any of this. Unless there is a direct threat of violence, and I don’t mean words that hurt someone’s feeling, the government needs to stay out of it.
Yes he was.. BUT THAT was “ok”.. Just ask the left..
Can you feel it America, the grip of government tightening around your neck? In case anyone can’t or won’t comprehend what Harris is saying, she is telling you it is not only okay for the feds to spread propaganda, but their responsibility to silence anyone who disagrees. Are you comfortable with a CCP style America? Every agency, bureau, and department in the federal government wants to control us in some way shape or form. From the EPA to the FBI, government has decided it is not simply their goal but rather their mandate to control everything we say, think and do. There is no question we are losing our liberties and freedoms, the only thing left to decide is if, when, and how we are going to put a stop to it.
YOU vill Comply with da state, tavorisch.. Or else. DA comrade?!
i still can not believe the american people voted for this catastrophe a incoherent puppet and a complete fool who got where see is today by being on her back!
WE DIDN’T vote her in.. LIKE BIDEN the election was FRAUDED INTO being… BY the deep state, by the dem party, and by the CCP!
“misinformation and disinformation have infiltrated information streams in our country” (copied from the article). This promulgation of misinformation and disinformation is lead by the gubment. Their goal is control and is this one avenue to achieve that. And of course the FBI, CIA, and NSA are gubment agencies leading the charge. As for **********, is there NO way to get rid of her? What an embarrassment to the human race.
State run media, not independent from the Government. Does that remind you of any dictatorships?
EVERY DAMN one… Hell i can’t name a single dictatorship, since there was a media, that didn’t CONTROL THE MEDIA..
Who decides what is misinformation? So messed up.