Biden Admin Working With Social Media Companies To Limit Pro-Palestinian Content

“My attorneys said that after their meeting with Meta that it was clear that the U.S. government asked them to shut my account down.”

By Ken Klippenstein, KenKlippenstein.com

The Biden administration has publicly admitted that it is working with tech companies to “limit Hamas’s use of online platforms, including social media,” part of its campaign to suppress pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sentiment. Though there has been much speculation that the federal government is pressuring social media companies to police their networks, this is the first official confirmation of its counterterrorism efforts.

A little-noticed readout for a May 15 Hague meeting between the State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism Elizabeth Richard and other governments said that Richard “updated the group on U.S. efforts to engage tech companies in voluntary collaboration to limit Hamas’ use of online platforms, including social media, for terrorist purposes.” The readout also notes that another similar meeting took place on December 13, in which the U.S. coordinated with partner governments to “target Hamas’ online propaganda.”

While the U.S. government’s efforts to communicate warnings to social media companies on a variety of subjects from Ukraine to COVID-19, those platforms, like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, have long banned terrorist organizations like Hamas. Now, however, the federal government is pressuring companies to ban “Hamas-linked” accounts and those of pro-Palestinian Americans.