Top Republicans throw support behind major Biden ‘censorship’ lawsuit by conservative media

EXCLUSIVE — Congressional Republicans investigating the Biden administration over allegations that agencies suppressed speech online are backing a new lawsuit accusing the United States government of funding an unconstitutional “censorship scheme.”

Texas joined the Federalist and the Daily Wire, two conservative media outlets, in suing the State Department last week for “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation,” according to a complaint that extensively cites reporting by the Washington Examiner. The lawsuit was filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance in the Lone Star State’s U.S. District Court for the Eastern District. Now, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are taking notice, applauding the lawsuit as a vital next step in thwarting what the GOP has dubbed the “Censorship Industrial Complex.”

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“This litigation is a positive development,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said. “Those harmed by the Censorship Industrial Complex should have the opportunity to seek relief in federal court. The committee will continue its role in conducting oversight and pursuing legislative reforms to protect Americans’ right to free speech and to dismantle the Censorship Industrial Complex.”

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who also sits on the Jordan-led panel and its Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee, called the legal filing “a road map to understanding the full spectrum of the Censorship Industrial Complex and the ways it has corrupted the State Department, FBI, leading universities, and the nonprofit sector.”

“All have contributed to the intentional targeting of conservative free speech, mainstream conservative media, and the denial of First Amendment rights,” Issa said. “The Congress must fully address these historic scandals and ensure they never happen again.”

The comments from Jordan and Issa, as well as other House members who spoke with the Washington Examiner, underscore how Republicans in the 118th Congress have taken aim at the U.S. government’s efforts to fight alleged “disinformation” or “misinformation,” determining that Democrats are attacking right-leaning speech in a sweeping and biased fashion. Next year, the Supreme Court will hear Missouri v. Biden, a case that saw a federal appellate court in September conclude that the Biden administration likely flouted the First Amendment while demanding that social media companies take down purported “disinformation” and “misinformation.”

The lawsuit from Texas and the media outlets focused on how the Global Engagement Center, a State Department-housed office working with the FBI, Defense Department, and other agencies, granted $100,000 in 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index. That British think tank, also known as GDI, first came under the spotlight in early 2023 due to a Washington Examiner investigation revealing how it covertly feeds blacklists of conservative websites to advertisers in order to shut down disfavored speech.

That $100,000 grant has spawned investigations across the House Oversight, Small Business, Foreign Affairs, and Judiciary committees, as well as in the Senate, with Republicans aiming to understand why the government handed taxpayer dollars to the think tank, even if the funds were purportedly for an overseas project. Moreover, last week’s lawsuit focused on the GDI’s contracts with NewsGuard, a New York-based company claiming to track “misinformation” online.

Both NewsGuard and the think tank are named in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act in an amendment that seeks to prohibit the groups, as well as other “misinformation” trackers, from receiving Pentagon contracts for military recruitment advertising. NewsGuard co-CEO Gordon Crovitz has said the company’s Pentagon work “relates to identifying and analyzing disinformation operations against the U.S. and our allies launched by hostile state actors such as Russia, China, Iran, and Hamas.”

“I applaud the Daily Wire and the Federalist for taking legal action against the Biden Administration’s unlawful, corrupt efforts to suppress conservative voices in the media,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee. “From the State Department, to the FBI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Biden Administration continues to weaponize government departments and agencies to collude with Big Tech companies and other outside organizations to censor Americans’ free speech.”

Congress must work on “dismantling the Censorship Industrial Complex once and for all,” Clyde added.

Similarly, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) is supportive of the lawsuit, calling the plaintiffs “champions for fundamental freedoms all Americans are guaranteed.”

“By funneling taxpayer dollars into organizations with evident partisan biases, the State Department has not only neglected its duty to uphold impartiality but has also actively participated in the censorship and influence of outcomes that divide the country,” said Sessions, a member of the House Financial Services Committee. “The Biden Administration’s abuse of power poses a significant threat to the diverse discourse that is essential to our democracy.”

In an interview last week, New Civil Liberties Alliance attorney Margot Cleveland, who also writes for the Federalist, said she expects discovery in the lawsuit could shine a light on how the U.S. government’s “censorship” operations have been “a lot more complicated and nefarious” than previously known. At the same time, GOP-led congressional committees are beginning to receive documents they requested on the GDI months prior, which could also provide answers lawmakers have sought, such as whether the State Department knew the GDI was blacklisting conservative outlets, according to two sources familiar.

“The Committee on Small Business has been requesting answers from the GEC for some time now,” House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner. “Small businesses just want a fair shot to compete, regardless of ideology and political affiliation.”

“The Committee will continue our investigation into the GEC to ensure government resources are not going to unfairly target certain businesses from being able to succeed online,” Williams added.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who sits on both the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs panels, said he hopes “people are paying attention” to the lawsuit.

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To Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is also on the Oversight Committee, the Biden administration has simply gone too far in throttling voices it disagrees with.

“The censorship of conservatives by the Biden administration, Democrats, and the Deep State is unconstitutional and is akin to Orwellian subversion of our Constitutional Republic and its citizens,” Donalds said. “The lengths our government was willing to go to suppress opposing thought is disturbing and deserves severe repercussions.”