More censorship efforts and Big Tech collaborations from the Biden White House…
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan dropped a bomb this week when he blew the lid of Amazon’s collaboration with the Biden Administration to censor books about COVID-19 vaccine information; the documents were obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government via subpoena.
“THE AMAZON FILES – ‘feeling pressure from the White House,’” Jordan titled a tweet thread shared on Monday.
“Never-before-released internal emails subpoenaed by @JudiciaryGOP reveal that the Biden White House pressured Amazon to censor books that expressed views the White House did not approve of. ‘Is the [Biden] Admin asking us to remove books?’” Jordan continued.
“Who can we talk to about the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon?” Andrew Slavitt, a former White House senior advisor for COVID-19 response, wrote to the online retailer in a March 2, 2021, email, released by Jordan.
“If you search for ‘vaccines’ under books, I see what comes up,” Slavitt wrote in a follow-up message that same day. “I haven’t looked beyond that but if that’s what’s on the surface, it’s concerning.”
According to The New York Post, Amazon officials initially balked at performing “a manual intervention” to remove certain book titles from appearing, arguing that it would be “too visible” and lead to further scrutiny.
“We will not be doing a manual intervention today,” an email between Amazon executives reads. “The team/PR feels very strongly that it is too visible, and will further compound the Harry/Sally narrative (which is getting the Fox News treatment today apparently), and won’t fix the problem long-term … because of customer behavior associates.”
The Post highlights an exchange between Amazon executives about a “White House Taskforce.”
From The New York Post:
In another email discussing an upcoming negative media story on COVID-19 vaccine books being sold by Amazon, an official acknowledges that the company “is feeling pressure from the White House Taskforce on this issue as well.”
The pressure applied by the Biden administration apparently worked, as the company put “anti-vax books” under a “Do Not Promote” order the same day Amazon officials met with the White House.
“As a reminder, we did enable Do Not Promote for anti-vax books whose primary purpose is to persuade readers vaccines are unsafe or ineffective on 3/9, and will review additional handling options for these books,” an email between company employees states.
In March, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana that alleges the Biden Administration colluded with Big Tech to suppress Americans’ First Amendment rights.
This certainly won’t be the last we hear of the “Amazon Files.”
