Michael Shellenberger accused last week to several Biden Administration institutions of violating the First Amendment. The journalist, who was part of the team of people who released information in the well-known Twitter Files, revealed in a letter published on Substack, "the ways in which social media platforms have, under pressure from U.S. government agencies, censored ordinary Americans and spread disinformation:"
Our findings are shocking. A highly-organized network of U.S. government agencies and government contractors has been creating blacklists and pressuring social media companies to censor Americans, often without them knowing it.
In the letter, the journalist used the opportunity to post a 68-page document showing that U.S. government officials, agencies and contractors are violating the First Amendment. Shellenberger stated that what was most troubling is the extent of censorship, which, he said, "was unknown to us until very recently."
Testimonio verbal de Michael Shellenberger ante el Congreso de los EEUU by VozMedia on Scribd
"Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Both are under attack"
He said that the document allows him and other journalists, such as Matt Taibbi, to understand "the ways in which this complex simultaneously spreads disinformation and demands censorship." His testimony demonstrates the "effort by U.S. government intelligence and security agencies to wage 'information warfare' against the American people."
Shellenberger is also aware that there will be critics. Some people "will try to justify the behaviors we have documented. They will say such censorship is necessary for 'fighting disinformation.'" However, the journalist said this is not an acceptable reason to excuse this censorship:
There is no moral or legal justification for the acts of state-sponsored censorship we document, much less for the fundamentally unAmerican censorship-industrial complex. I believe that any reasonable person reading our report, no matter their politics, will be horrified by what is taking place and demand an end to it.
The journalist concluded by stating: "Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Both are under attack." Michael Shellenberger uses this reason to justify having uncovered everything that he, Matt Taibbi and other journalists released in the Twitter Files.
