Wray said the FBI’s social media surveillance targets “hostile foreign actors”—not average Americans—in response to a recent court ruling barring the Biden Administration from most interactions with social media companies.
FBI Director Christopher Wray denied allegations that the agency pressures social media companies to censor content and said it’s primarily focused on disinformation from “foreign hostile actors,” he told the House Judiciary Committee in a heated hearing Wednesday that comes as the agency has faced mounting criticism from Republicans claiming it’s been weaponized by the Biden Administration....
Federal Bureau of Investigation on Capitol Hill July 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. Conservative House Republicans claim that the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies have been"weaponized" against conservatives, including former U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies. Wray defended the FBI workforce, emphasizing that the agency protects Americans every day"from a staggering array of threats.
Wray disputed the plaintiffs’ claims that the FBI suppressed Americans’ First Amendment privileges and said the agency is not focused “on disinformation broadly speaking,” but instead targets “foreign hostile actors who use covert efforts to abuse our social media platforms.” Wray also denied the Republican attorneys generals’ claims that the FBI, along with other Biden agencies named in the lawsuit, “threatened adverse consequences to social media companies” if they refused to enhance censorship measures: “At the end of the day, we're very clear that it's up to the social media companies to decide whether to do something,” Wray said.“The American people have lost faith in the FBI.
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