🍎Special Edition: DOJ: The Great Wall of Silence

DOJ: The Great Wall of Silence  

Social media has become an integral part of today’s society. It’s a tool for business, social networking, and global communication. But like all tools it can have a dark side as well, in the wrong hands. A potential tool for malevolence that can be expressed by an individual, group, corporation, or government. The current hot social-political climate in United States provides fertile ground for avenues of combustion through social media. Accordingly, law enforcement agencies monitor these social media sites for criminal activity and threats to national security. However, there is a growing public outcry about censorship and the partisan weaponization of social media. The elements of free speech, privacy, and the investigative authority of the federal government, hang in a delicate balance, as government actors interact with social media companies. Particular collaborative interactions between federal agencies and private social media companies have some public officials yelling foul–even collusion.  

On February 8^th, 2023 The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight & Accountability Committee held a hearing: “Protecting Speech from Government Interference & Social Media Bias Part I: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story.” The Committee subpoenaed four former Twitter executives to provide answers to allegations about the suppression of the NY Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, disinformation, domestic extremism, and federal government intrusion. The Committee questioned the interactions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI with Twitter. Namely, its quarterly meetings with Twitter, a separate BU (for FBI “bureau”) chatroom, possible secret back channels of communication, and a war room. Speculation circulated that these interactions may operate as unlawful collusion to censor certain voices, weaponize politics on social media, and manipulate the American people. There were fiery claims that Twitter banned the accounts of a few House representatives.

Still, others counter that the hearing was a waste of time and resources. Several representatives assert these allegations are a law enforcement matter and the hearing has turned political theatre, and it feeds into something even worse–conspiracy theories. One representative expressed concern for a free-for-all hellscape. Another representative spoke support for a Section 230 reform: Stop the Censorship Act. The committee continued to exchange jabs with the witnesses and each other in a lengthy hearing.

The DOJ is the federal law enforcement apparatus that is funded by tax-payer dollars. My own complaint of alleged law enforcement misconduct, illegal searches, and retaliation was submitted to the DOJ. This experience includes letters and telephone calls to the DOJ, two in-person meetings at FBI field offices, and after twelve years the complaint remains unresolved. Even more, due to an adjacent event related to the complaint, the State Department had to be notified for assistance.

On one occasion I made an after business hours telephone call to the DOJ-Criminal Division. The telephone operator stated no-one was available to speak with me in the office and she would transfer me to voicemail. When the transfer was complete, surprisingly someone came on the telephone line and stated she was AAG-Lanny Breuer’s assistant. I explained my call was to follow-up on a letter that was sent to that office. She was extremely rude and unprofessional. She began yelling at me “What letter?” When I asked her to identify herself by name, she refused and stated “I don’t have to tell you anything.” Since the call was unproductive it was ended. I sent an email to the DOJ about this federal employee’s poor telephone etiquette and received no response back. Unfortunately, most of my experience with the DOJ I have encountered a wall of silence with little follow-up. My personal example may be anecdotal, but it touches on the important issue of transparency and accountability.

The Committee hearing shed an investigative light on several different issues. I feel these allegations should continue to be explored by the Committee for transparency and accountability. The DOJ and FBI historical record is not without blemish. Consider the 1975 Senate Church Committee and the infamous COINTELPRO. Once upon a time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a target of the FBI’s domestic surveillance program. Now, he is honored with a federal holiday. Social media can be a powerful tool in the wrong hands. And those wrong hands can belong to an individual, group, corporation, or government. No great wall of silence is without cracks, where some degree of truth can be heard.

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