Ex-White House Officials Deny ‘Pressuring’ Social Media Platforms

Committee Republicans have been investigating communications between social media companies and White House officials, including two who testified before the House Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee on Wednesday: Andy Slavitt, former White House senior adviser-COVID Response Team, and Rob Flaherty, former White House digital strategy director. Jordan has repeatedly made First Amendment accusations against Slavitt and Flaherty, citing evidence used in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Murthy v. Missouri (see 2403290047).

Biden officials never tried to make decisions for any platforms about COVID-19 content, and executives pushed back when they disagreed about potential content moderation approaches, Slavitt said. “I’m self-critical, but I never asked social media companies to self-censor anything.”

The White House COVID-19 response team’s goal was relaying the best information available based on the best medical research available, Flaherty told the subcommittee. Officials often engaged with platforms to flag content moderation policies and encourage enforcement of those policies, he said. Platforms had the option to moderate independently, said Flaherty, who now serves as President Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager.

Jordan in his opening statement cited a 2021 message Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent to company executives asking if Facebook could “include that the WH put pressure on us to censor the lab-leak theory.” That theory claims COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab. Moreover, Jordan noted how Facebook’s then-Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Sandberg accused the administration of “scapegoating” the platform.

According to documents Jordan shared, Flaherty told Facebook his “bias is to kick people off the platform,” and Flaherty asked Facebook to alter algorithms so users don’t see content from news outlets like the Daily Wire.

Jordan cited communications showing Slavitt told then-Facebook executive Nick Clegg he was “outraged” the platform didn’t remove an anti-vaccine-related meme. A former U.K. Parliament member, Clegg told Slavitt that removal would constitute an “incursion” against free expression in the U.S., said Jordan: “You got a British guy telling the American guy how the First Amendment works.”

During the hearing, Flaherty told Jordan his job was to communicate on behalf of medical experts. Slavitt said it’s “important to have dialogue about all these issues.”

Democrats accused the majority of cherry-picking quotes from White House communications with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. Addressing Zuckerberg’s group message about administration “pressure,” subcommittee ranking member Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., said an employee wrote back: “I don’t think that [White House officials] put specific pressure on” the company about the lab-leak theory. Jordan omitted that detail because it didn’t fit his narrative, she said.

Jordan shared documents showing YouTube’s safety team told Flaherty the platform was finalizing a policy to remove content misleading people about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. YouTube asked the White House for feedback on the policy before implementing it, Jordan said: YouTube was asking for “permission.” Flaherty said he couldn’t recall the specific policy change Jordan was referencing. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., suggested a seemingly “benign suggestion” from the “most powerful” office “on Earth” could come across as an “order.”

Slavitt said he expected tech companies to take his phone calls, but he never expected them to act when they disagreed with him: “I hoped they would take my call seriously since we were talking about a serious matter.”

The subcommittee is “attacking civil servants” for trying to "save lives" by providing accurate information with platforms, said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. Slavitt said he agreed with Republicans that platforms don’t need to answer to the White House on content moderation, but officials were trying their best to “problem solve” during a once-in-a-generation pandemic.