While the FBI remains mired in scandal following the “Twitter Files” revelations and braces for robust congressional probes, Director Christopher Wray made statements at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, alluding to “operation between the private sector and the government.”
Wray warned the world’s elite about the risks presented by emerging technologies at the Davos conference. It seems that he spoke about collaborations between the federal government and commercial technology enterprises. The FBI Director has praised the organization for its “excellent accomplishments” in working with the IT industry.
A few highlights from Wray’s address at the WEF are as follows:
I’ve seen a huge increase in cooperation between corporations and government entities like the FBI as the business sector has grown and developed. Virtually any technical development we may broach today holds the promise of immense benefits, but also serious risks if misused.
There has been a flurry of coverage leading up to the 2020 election about how the FBI directed censorship practices at Twitter and other social media companies, particularly in regard to the spread of the New York Post’s reporting on Biden family corruption, based on Hunter Biden’s infamous “laptop from hell.”
Reporter Michael Shellenberger had uncovered Elon Musk’s emails months earlier, which hinted that the FBI had cooperated with Twitter to limit the Post’s coverage of the Biden family business.
According to Shellenberger, federal officials worked with Twitter’s executive management “after and *before* The New York Post released the contents of his laptop on October 14, 2020” to stifle and degrade the Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s international commercial operations. Shellenberger dug deeper into the subject and found that the FBI had made up the theory that the Post’s 2020 election coverage was part of a purported “hack-and-leak” attack by “Russia,” and that the mainstream media had used this explanation to excuse their failure to report the story.
In response to these claims, the FBI issued a brash statement in which it categorically rejected the reporting’s central claim and labeled Musk’s disclosures as the work of “conspiracy theorists propagating misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency” by revealing otherwise routine FBI operations. The FBI did not provide any additional details about its definition of “misinformation” or identify the groups it considers to be “conspiracy theorists.”
The FBI had warned Facebook of “propaganda” ahead of the 2020 election, asking the site to be “vigilant” to censoring, and former Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged this in the summer of 2018 in an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.
Perhaps the FBI has contacted us (or at least some of us) to urge us to maintain vigilance. According to our findings, Russia actively aimed to influence the 2016 election by distributing disinformation. We are about to get pounded with… whatever it is that has been hinted at. Never lose sight of what’s going on.
Later that day, the Post published the first of several articles on the “laptop from hell,” a computer whose availability was tightly restricted by a certain social networking platform.
“We just kind of felt, Hey look, if the FBI, which, you know, I still see as a genuine agency in this nation, it’s a skilled law enforcement,” Zuckerberg explained when Rogan inquired about the FBI’s role. As they approach, they warn us to exercise caution. Then I have no choice but to take you seriously if this is the case.
Zuckerberg claims that the Hunter Biden story “fits the pattern” of the aforementioned “Russian propaganda,” although the FBI has been unable to find evidence to back up this accusation.
Wray’s comments come as the Republican-controlled House gets ready to investigate the FBI for what appears to be its politicization and use of private corporations for what appears to be electioneering objectives.
The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, headed by Republican from Ohio Jim Jordan, will look into whether or not the FBI has been politicized.
A subcommittee will reportedly investigate the communications between digital companies and President Biden’s staff “to check for government pressure that could have led in censorship or harassment of conservatives — or squelching of debate on divisive policies, notably the CDC on COVID,” as reported by Axios. Some Republicans have compared this organization to the radical “Church Committee” of the 1970s, which they view as having similar goals and strategies.
The Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer of Kentucky, said last month that the House should “halt” funding for the FBI until agency officials explained their role in the suppression of the New York Post.
Since Zuckerberg had already disclosed his own Twitter-related experiences, we were already aware of this. Things that happened behind closed doors at Google and YouTube are unknown. Comer claimed the agency was completely out of control on the Fox Business Network show Mornings with Maria.
The following announcement was issued by Comer on December 11th.
The fact that the FBI’s budget was increased and they were given the authorization to build a new headquarters facility for $1.75 billion is, at the time, the most irritating component of this omnibus package, Maria. All FBI operations and funding must be halted until senior FBI officials testify before Congress to defend the bureau’s conduct, explain their justifications, and name the authorizers.
A recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that an overwhelming majority of respondents said that Congress should investigate whether or not the FBI was involved in regulating social media.