Congress demands information about possible FBI censorship

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan reported that they are investigating a tool allegedly used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to monitor and potentially censor social media posts related to the election and the Biden family scandals.

As part of the investigation, Jordan sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking for a meeting to answer the committee's questions on this matter. Wray is due to appear before the committee by Nov. 26.

In addition, Jordan highlighted testimony from an FBI Criminal Investigative Division analyst - formerly assigned to the Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) - who explained that the group was allegedly coordinating with social media companies ahead of the 2024 election to monitor and flag posts on digital platforms that could be considered "criminal."

"Altough the analyst testified that the FBI uses this tool to pursue “criminal conduct,” when questioned about the nature of the software tool and the scope of the FBI’s use of it, agency counsel repeatedly prevented the analyst from fully answering the Committee’s questions," Jordan noted.

In addition, Jordan detailed that documents obtained by the Committee and the Select Subcommittee show how the FBI coached major tech companies to expect a trade on information about the Biden family's connections to Burma and that the companies acted accordingly and censored the story, despite internal concerns about whether the allegations were actually foreign in origin.

"Therefore, we write to obtain additional information in order to understand whether the FBI has or could use this software tool to censor or infringe upon lawful speech, particularly Americans’ political speech," Jordan argued in the missive.