GOP House Oversight Committee Advances Legislation to Protect Speech from Government Censorship

It is about time to save freedom of speech. "BE THE PERSISTENCE"

WASHINGTON—Published: Feb 28, 2023

On February 28, 2023 the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability passed two bills to protect speech from government censorship, the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act (H.R. 140) and the Accountability for Government Censorship Act (H.R. 1162).

The Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, introduced by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), expands the Hatch Act—the law prohibiting federal employees from engaging in political activities in their official capacity—to expressly prohibit those same federal employees from censoring lawful speech. The bill prohibits agency employees from using their official authority or resources to influence or coerce a private sector platform to censor—including to remove, suppress, restrict, or add disclaimers or alerts to—any lawful speech posted on its platform by a person or entity. It provides an exception for legitimate law enforcement activities reported to Congress for review. 

“Today the Oversight Committee took action to protect our constitutional right to free speech from government censorship. The Biden Administration has eroded Americans’ First Amendment rights by bullying social media companies to censor certain views and news on their platforms. Biden Administration officials are quick to label inconvenient facts as disinformation and then pressure social media companies to suppress content on their platforms. To protect the First Amendment, the Protect Speech from Government Interference Act stops federal employees from pressuring social media companies to silence Americans expressing views online. I thank Chairs Jim Jordan and Cathy McMorris Rodgers for their support in cosponsoring my bill and look forward to the House of Representatives taking up this legislation soon,” said Chairman Comer.

The Accountability for Government Censorship Act, introduced by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), requires a government-wide report to Congress of every instance, over the past five years, that a federal agency has communicated with an interactive computer service for the purpose of removing, suppressing, restricting, or adding disclaimers to lawful speech. The report will include the agency employees that initiated the communication, the targeted platforms, and a justification of the action. Agency compliance with the reporting requirement will be audited by the inspectors general.

“The American People deserve to know how and why their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being used by their own government to censor and suppress their God-given and Constitutionally protected right to free speech. This bill would do just that by requiring a comprehensive report on agency activities to censor lawful speech on social media platforms,” said Rep. Perry.

At the markup, the committee also adopted its authorization and oversight plan for the 118^th Congress. More on today’s markup can be found here.

https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-opens-markup-of-legislation-to-protect-speech-from-government-censorship%ef%bf%bc/

Published: Feb 28, 2023

Comer Opens Markup of Legislation to Protect Speech from Government Censorship

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) opened today’s markup by urging the committee to pass legislation to protect Americans’ speech from government censorship. At the markup, the Oversight Committee will consider the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act (H.R. 140), the Accountability for Government Censorship Act (H.R. 1162), and the panel’s authorization and oversight plan.

Below are Chairman Comer’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery.

During our February 8th hearing on “Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias,” the Oversight Committee learned just how easy it was for the federal government to influence a private company to accomplish what it constitutionally cannot: limit the free exercise of speech.

At the hearing, we heard hours of witness testimony that revealed the extent to which federal employees have repeatedly and consistently communicated with social media platforms to censor and suppress the lawful speech of Americans.

The hearing exposed just how much the Biden Administration have attempted to normalize a policy of federal censorship.

Biden Administration officials have publicly called upon—and privately coordinated with—private sector social media companies to ban specific accounts viewed as politically inconvenient.

During our February 8th hearing one of our witnesses, Mr. Baker, called for federal legislation that would reasonably and effectively limit government interactions with private sector platforms. 

I agree with him.

It is inappropriate and dangerous for the federal government to decide what lawful speech is allowed on a private sector platform.

My bill, the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act, makes this type of behavior an unlawful activity for federal officials to engage in—subjecting those who attempt to censor the lawful speech of Americans to disciplinary actions and monetary penalties.

The federal government should not be able to decide what lawful speech is allowed—we have the First Amendment for a very good reason.

Federal officials—no matter their rank or resources—must be prohibited to coerce the private sector to suppress certain information or limit the ability of citizens to freely express their own views on a private sector internet platform.

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, for example, should not have been free to use her official authority to openly call for Facebook, or any other social media company, to ban specific accounts or types of speech from its platform.

That was not an appropriate use of the authorities or resources of a senior executive branch official.

Further, federal employees should not feel empowered to infringe on the independence of private entities by pressuring them to complicate or change their community guidelines and content moderation policies.

If the Biden Administration needs to express its policy positions or political preferences, it has immense communication resources of its own through which to engage in the public square and offer its information and arguments.

If the Administration feels it is losing the policy argument and the public’s confidence to stronger voices, the answer should never be to deploy the resources and power of the federal government to limit the speech of others.

The legislation before us today expands the current federal employee political activity limitations of the Hatch Act to include a prohibition on federal employees using their official authority to influence or coerce a private sector internet platform to censor lawful speech.

This includes a prohibition on actions that would result in a private sector platform suppressing, restricting, or adding disclaimers or alerts to any lawful speech posted on its platform by a person or entity.

Whether an ordinary citizen or an established media organization—all Americans have a right to utilize these new and powerful communication technology resources to share their views and opinions without Uncle Sam putting his thumb on the scale to tilt the debate in one direction.

Americans know that the First Amendment protects them from this kind of government censorship—protects them from federal officials who seek to use their positions, their influence, and their resources to censor lawful speech.

The only thing that has changed is that the public square has moved online with powerful new communication tools.

We are discussing this legislation today because Americans know that something is wrong, and they’ve asked Congress to fix it.

This bill is a targeted first step to address one, clear part of the problem—the troubling development that federal officials in the U.S. government view it as their role to censor the speech of Americans.

I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.

And I thank Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers for their early support in crafting this legislation.

---

Interest of Justice mission is to restore justice to all of humanity using international law of responsibility and exercising our right to defend human rights. We are at humanities service.

Join us:

• Share IOJ’s information and websites

• Learn about our work and mission

• volunteer - email us: contact@interestofjustice.org

• submit your authenticated evidence/testimony to be on the witness list send to: claims@interestofjustice.org

• Sponsor IOJ’s long term strategy (IOJ really needs community ongoing financial support to go full steam ahead until the mission of finding and prosecuting all covid wrongdoers worldwide is complete)

---

Thank for reading!