Wray insists agents will comply with ban on meeting social media execs

FBI Director Christopher Wray insisted his agency has moved to comply with a Missouri court ruling ordering the Biden administration to cease contact with social media companies.

He claimed the agency does not order social media companies to suppress free speech but ‘alerts’ them when there are potential issues. 

‘Obviously we’re going to comply,’ said Wray. ‘We sent out guidance to the field and headquarters about how to do that. Needless to say the injunction itself is the subject of ongoing litigation.’ 

Trump-appointed federal judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana barred members of the Biden White House, Department of Justice and FBI from meeting with social media executives.

FBI Director Christopher Wray insisted his agency has moved to comply with a Missouri court ruling ordering the Biden administration to cease contact with social media companies

He refused to block his own order while the Biden administration appeals it to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.  

The case was brought by Republican attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana, who alleged that U.S. government officials went too far in efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts they worried could contribute to vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic or upend elections. 

The order barred agencies from talking to social media companies for ‘the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech’ under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. 

Critics, however, said the order was broad, unclear and could chill government efforts to fight misinformation on important topics.

Some worry it could curtail efforts to combat false and misleading narratives as Americans prepare for the 2024 presidential election.

And administration officials argued the tech companies control their own policies regarding misinformation and that the lawsuit casts officials’ comments on issues and policy as threats.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, who was appointed by Donald Trump, refused to block his own order preventing contact between administration officials and Big Tech

‘We have issued guidance to everyone,’ Wray said, refusing to say whether anyone would be disciplined over their contact with social media companies. ‘I’m not going to speak to personnel matters we have not made such determinations at this state.’ 

Earlier this week the committee released a report based on documents subpoenaed from Meta and Alphabet finding that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s intelligence agency enlisted the FBI to help combat ‘Russian disinformation on social media. 

The FBI transmitted Ukraine’s takedown requests to social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.  

‘Where do you find the [national security] interest in free speech of American citizens being taken down?’ asked Rep. Darrell Issa. ‘Where do you have that authority?’

‘We don’t ask social media companies to censor information,’ Wray insisted.  

‘What we do do is is alert them when some other intelligence agency gives us information about a foreign intelligence service being behind some account. We will call social media companies’ attention to that,’ he went on. 

‘The suggestion of the most powerful law enforcement operation is not a suggestion. It is in fact effectively an order,’ proclaimed Issa. 

Wray maintained that the agency had never targeted conservatives – and noted that he himself is a Republican. 

‘The idea that I am biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me given my own personal background,’ Wray told the committee.