FBI, Ukraine colluded to censor lawful social media speech, House report says

WASHINGTON (TND) — The FBI in February colluded with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to censor lawful free speech of American citizens on U.S. social media platforms, according to a House Republican report.

The 27-page document released Tuesday by the U.S. House of Representatives details known attempts by the FBI to censor and remove thousands of American social media accounts throughout 2023 with the goal of counteracting supposed Russian social media disinformation.

Accounts targeted for removal, some of which belonged to American journalists, were first identified by the Russian-infiltrated SBU before being presented to the FBI. The FBI then made requests to Meta, Google and other social media companies that the accounts in question be removed from their sites, according to internal FBI emails included in the report.

Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Google all received account removal requests. One such account targeted by the SBU was @usaporusski, the official verified Russian-language Instagram account of the U.S. State Department. Neither the FBI, nor the SBU, provided an explanation as to why the account was targeted.

“The new information highlights the FBI's unconstitutional role in enabling the SBU's censorship regime and raises grave concerns about the FBI's credibility, reliability, and competence as the nation's premier law enforcement organization,” a press release for the report on the House website reads.

The House found that the FBI concealed the fact that the targeted accounts belonged to Americans, therefore violating the First Amendment.

“The FBI facilitated censorship requests to American social media companies on behalf of a Ukrainian intelligence agency infiltrated by Russian-aligned actors In so doing, the FBI violated the First Amendment rights of Americans and potentially undermined our national security,” the report reads.

To conclude its report, the House resolved to continue its investigation to determine the extent of the FBI’s censorship.

The report comes just two days before FBI Director Christopher Wray will testify before the House Judiciary Committee over accusations that his agency mishandled the Hunter Biden investigation.