A pair of Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm about potential government censorship over reports that the Biden administration is planning to enter into a multinational pandemic agreement aimed in part at combatting “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
Representatives Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) are requesting information from the U.S. Department of State on its negotiations to enter into a proposed World Health Organization agreement involving pandemic prevention, according to a letter obtained exclusively by National Review.
“We write in response to reports that the State Department is considering entering the United States into a multinational agreement that would encourage censorship of so-called ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation,'” Jordan and Massie wrote. “The ostensible purpose of the WHO Agreement is to ‘prevent, prepare and respond to pandemics.’ These reports raise serious concerns given that certain provisions within the WHO Agreement may contravene the First Amendment.”
As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Subcommittee, Jordan is leading the House GOP’s investigation into coordination between the federal government, third party organizations, and social media platforms to censor speech. Massie is a member of the committee and a leading opponent of online censorship.
The State Department’s Global Engagement Center is one of the government branches that collaborated with third party organizations to pressure social media platforms into restricting speech online, according to a report released last year by the Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Subcommittee.
Conservative news organizations are suing the State Department over what they say is the center’s alleged censorship of right-leaning outlets through third party organizations. National Review is not part of the lawsuit.
The Biden administration’s effort to pressure social media companies into restricting speech is the subject of Murthy v. Missouri, a case set to be decided later this year by the Supreme Court.
The Judiciary Committee recently published a lengthy report with a trove of documents showing how the Biden administration successfully pushed large tech companies into censoring information related to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the lab-leak theory of the coronavirus’s origins.
“The State Department’s consideration of the WHO Agreement is even more troubling in light of the fact that the Biden Administration has been one of the worst and most consistent purveyors of COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation,” the Republican lawmakers continued. “In addition to spreading misinformation, the Biden Administration also worked relentlessly to coerce social media companies, and even bookstores, to censor true information as uncovered by the Committee and Select Subcommittee.”
Throughout the pandemic, public health officials advised Americans to stay six feet apart to protect themselves from coronavirus. Earlier this year, former National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins admitted there was never any evidence to support the guidelines, as National Review first reported.
Collins also admitted that the scientific debate over Covid-19’s origins is unsettled, despite his role in helping to discredit the lab-leak theory at the outset of the pandemic. Media outlets and tech platforms used concerns over “misinformation” and “disinformation” to greatly restrict debate on the lab-leak theory. Assessments by the FBI and Department of Energy have since concluded the coronavirus most likely originated from a lab.
The latest draft of the WHO’s pandemic accord contains a section on fighting “misinformation” and “disinformation” in a timely manner. An introductory declaration states that the parties to the agreement recognize “the importance of building trust and ensuring the timely sharing of information to prevent misinformation, disinformation and stigmatization.”
The State Department issued an update in March on the pandemic agreement negotiations and said that May 2024 is the “target date” for concluding the discussions.
“Any accord resulting from these negotiations would be designed to increase the transparency and effectiveness of cooperation among nations during global pandemics and would in no way empower the World Health Organization or any other international body to impose, direct, or oversee national actions,” the update reads.
Jordan and Massie are demanding documents and communications between the State Department and WHO related to the proposed pandemic agreement and international health guidelines. They are also requesting a briefing with committee on the negotiations.