Mr Grassley did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Hawley, Abigail Marone, said President Biden “intended to lead the most anti-First Amendment administration in American history.”
“His idea of ’disinformation’ is parents talking about their children being taught critical race theory or concerned Americans asking valid questions about Covid vaccines,” she added. “Biden’s goal is to use the power of the federal government to stifle speech.”
The Department of Homeland Security included the threat of misinformation in its periodic national terrorism advisory bulletins for the first time in February. “The United States remains in an environment of heightened threat fueled by multiple factors, including an online environment rife with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories,” the alert said.
Foreign and domestic actors, the Bulletin added, “are trying to increase societal tensions to sow discord and undermine public confidence in government institutions to foment unrest that could potentially lead to acts of violence.” At the time, the senator explained Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn said the department “monitors the speech, thoughts, and opinions of American citizens.”
The department reiterated that warning in a bulletin last month.
“We are fundamentally unable at this point to have a calm discussion of this issue,” said Paul Barrett, associate director of the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University. “And there’s a weird circular looping-around effect. The problem itself contributes to our inability to talk about the problem.”
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