The US government and federal agencies are unlikely to face consequences for infringing the First Amendment on social media platforms, Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies told Sputnik.
US District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled on July 4 that the Biden administration had gone too far by censoring "unfavorable views" on social networks.
The federal judge prohibited federal officials and agencies, employees of the Justice Department and FBI, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre from communicating with social media giants for further censorship practices.
"Big Tech, especially Twitter, but presumably all of them, were taking direct cash payouts from the government in a partnership to classify the validity of information and online discussion. The partnership involved a lot of agencies but the worst offender (according to Elon Musk) seems to be State Department's 'Global Engagement Center'," Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies told Sputnik when asked why major social media companies bent to the White House's censorship demands.
According to Vorhies the US military and spies have long instrumentalized major social media networks. He said that in 2012 Obama signed the Smith-Mundt modernization act thus allowing the US government to "direct propaganda" at domestic audiences. The Google whistleblower argued that US military and domestic intelligence operatives also interfered heavily in the 2020 election by engaging in Big Tech censorship of damning information concerning Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Hunter's infamous "laptop from hell" was downplayed as a Russian disinformation operation despite the FBI concluding it was genuine.
"The release of the 'Twitter Files' earlier this year exposed some of the depth of domestic narrative control employed against the American public, with ex-FBI agents hired in droves who were classifying which information was 'misinformation'," Vorhies said.
Doughty was overseeing the suit filed by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana last year. The two claimed that the Biden administration's pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube could be qualified as censorship and, thus, violate the First Amendment.
The US mainstream press has already reported that the Biden administration is likely to appeal the federal judge's decision. For their part, the critics of the decision argue that it complicates the government's ability to regulate tech companies over the content shared by their users. According to Vorhies, the Biden administration, US military and spies wouldn't face any serious consequences for censorship.
"I don’t imagine that the government will face serious consequences due to the sheer size of the US military and their legal budget and the legal system which has granted 'sovereign immunity' to the US military which has further increased the barrier to seek redress from misinformation pushed by the military," the whistleblower concluded.
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