While Joe Biden has badgered Republicans, claiming they ban books – referencing parents who don’t want gay porn books in the elementary and middle school libraries – he was banning books he didn’t like.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has just revealed emails that show the Biden White House pressured Amazon to censor books containing information on vaccines they didn’t like. Amazon caved and did it.
Internal docs subpoenaed by @JudiciaryGOP & @Weaponization indicate that @amazon bowed down to Biden’s White House pressure to censor BOOKS.
THE AMAZON FILES – “feeling pressure from the White House”
Internal docs subpoenaed by @JudiciaryGOP & @Weaponization indicate that @amazon bowed down to Biden White House pressure to censor BOOKS.
Thread:
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Andy Slavitt—the senior Biden White House official who demanded that Facebook censor a meme and true information—was pressuring Amazon at the same time.
Slavitt basically blackmailed them, claiming the White House would talk to the company about “the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation [at] Amazon.”
The White House did a keyword search for anything they didn’t like and then sought to ban the books.
Initially, Amazon decided to hold off on “doing a manual intervention” to censor books because it looked bad.
On March 2, 2021, Slavitt fired off an email demanding to know who he and his White House colleagues could talk to at the company about “the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon?” pic.twitter.com/aWSMp3aSOc
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Initially, Amazon decided to hold off on “doing a manual intervention” to censor books.
Why? Not out of any commitment to free speech, but because doing so would be “too visible” to the American public and likely to spur criticism from conservative media. pic.twitter.com/166wXiPsha
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
A week later, on March 9, 2021, Amazon met with the White House.
Internal Amazon documents reveal Amazon’s “top talking points” going into the meeting.
One of the key questions was whether the Biden White House wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results: pic.twitter.com/wnWj9eCyJf
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
Why was the Biden White House so upset with Amazon?
Because Amazon believed “retailers are different than social media communities” & provided their “customers with access to a variety of viewpoints.” For the Biden Admin, letting Americans think for themselves was unacceptable.
A week later, on March 9, 2021, Amazon met with the White House. Internal Amazon documents reveal Amazon’s “top talking points” going into the meeting. One of the key questions was whether the Biden White House wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results.
So, how did Amazon’s meeting with the Biden White House go?
On March 2, 2021, Amazon determined internally that it would “not be doing a manual intervention today.” The online bookstore set a meeting with senior Biden White House officials for March 9, 2021. What was the purpose of this meeting with the Biden White House? To see if “the Admin is asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order (or both)?”
A week later, on March 9, 2021, Amazon met with the White House.
Internal Amazon documents reveal Amazon’s “top talking points” going into the meeting.
One of the key questions was whether the Biden White House wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results: pic.twitter.com/wnWj9eCyJf
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
What was the purpose of this meeting with the Biden White House?
To see if “the Admin is asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order (or both)?” pic.twitter.com/I8qd3WCeY4
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
After the White House spent a week berating Amazon, what did the online bookstore do? Starting March 9—the same day as its meeting with the White House—Amazon enabled “Do Not Promote” for books that expressed the view that vaccines were not effective.
After the White House spent a week berating Amazon, what did the online bookstore do?
Starting March 9—the same day as its meeting with the White House—Amazon enabled “Do Not Promote” for books that expressed the view that vaccines were not effective. pic.twitter.com/8YEXjAL8BD
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
After the White House spent a week berating Amazon, what did the online bookstore do? Starting March 9—the same day as its meeting with the White House—Amazon enabled “Do Not Promote” for books that expressed the view that vaccines were not effective.
And that wasn’t all. Amazon also considered other ways “to reduce the visibility” of certain books that the Biden White House disliked.
Amazon caved to the pressure from the Biden White House to censor speech.
That’s right.
Amazon caved to the pressure from the Biden White House to censor speech. @JudiciaryGOP and @Weaponization are investigating.https://t.co/P1hlB3c5WO
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 5, 2024
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