Judiciary Committee Interim Report Reveals DHS Involvement in Online Censorship Prior to 2020 Election

Report Accuses DHS of Colluding with Stanford’s "Disinformation" Group and Big Tech to Suppress Conservative Voices, Labeling their Online Posts as 'Misinformation' Prior to 2020 Election

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reportedly collaborated with Stanford University's Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) to 'censor' American speech before the 2020 presidential election, according to an interim report by the House Judiciary Committee.
The EIP, assisted by DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), worked in coordination with big tech companies to suppress and remove certain online content. This practice, known as 'switchboarding', involved referring requests for content removal from state and local officials to the relevant social media platforms.
The Committee's report suggests that this censorship effort disproportionately affected political conservatives, with true information posted by Republicans labelled as misinformation and false information by Democrats left largely untouched.
Prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and several GOP representatives and senators, had their social media postings marked as 'misinformation'. Media outlets and commentators with right-leaning views were also targeted.
DHS had noted in May 2020 that it could not openly endorse a system to flag 'misinformation', leading Stanford's EIP to start the effort in July 2020. Despite disclaimers stating the government's requests were 'voluntary' and that they had no power to remove content from social media, these requests implied actions could be taken by law enforcement or intelligence agencies if posts were not removed.