WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) reintroduced the Free Speech Defense Act to eliminate government-by-proxy censorship.

Over the past few years, our country has witnessed startling examples of the federal government working with Big Tech to circumvent Americans’ First Amendment rights. This includes the bombshell Twitter Files, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s admission that warnings from the FBI led the company to suppress posts related to the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election, and the role the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has played in policing Americans’ online speech. 

“By using social media companies as private sector proxies to carry out its bidding, the federal government is circumventing the Constitution to silence the American people,” said Clyde. “Moreover, these nefarious censorship efforts have been weaponized to interfere in our elections. Given the dire electoral consequences of the Left’s suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, Congress must act swiftly to rid our country of this unconstitutional muzzle before the 2024 election. It’s imperative that we advance my Free Speech Defense Act, which will finally eliminate government-by-proxy censorship — protecting both Americans’ free speech and America’s free elections.” 

Read the Daily Caller’s exclusive on the Free Speech Defense Act HERE.

Full text of the Free Speech Defense Act can be found HERE.

Background: 

Rep. Clyde’s Free Speech Defense Act:

• Prohibits the federal government from directing, encouraging, or coercing social media companies to remove users, label content as mis/disinformation, or share users’ data without a warrant
• Forbids public-private partnerships between federal agencies and social media companies for content monitoring
• Bars federal funding for entities that classify — or support the classification of — speech as misinformation or disinformation, as well as for entities that direct or instruct the censorship of protected speech
• Allows private right of action against the government in federal court if Americans can show that they were censored, deplatformed, or labeled
• Strengthens the Antideficiency Act by prohibiting employees of the federal government from soliciting or accepting no-cost services, such as free advertising
• Requires an annual report to Congress by the U.S. Attorney General, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, on the federal government’s compliance with the provisions within the legislation