Facebook's Secret Censorship Portal Exposed: How the Biden-Harris Administration Controlled Speech

Documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL) reveal that Facebook reportedly created a VIP censorship system for the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The AFL-obtained onboarding documents show how Facebook and the CDC collaborated, with Reclaim The Net describing the effort as a "whack-a-mole" game against free speech.

According to the report, Facebook didn’t just target what it considered misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines; it acted as an enforcement tool for the U.S. government's effort to control online discourse. The Biden-Harris administration, while claiming to fight for truth, essentially enlisted Facebook to regulate speech.

The documents reveal that under Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Platforms, Facebook built a seamless "end-to-end workflow" for the White House’s censorship demands. The system allowed up to 20 censorship requests to be processed simultaneously, with a special portal where government and law enforcement officials could flag content for removal. Rob Flaherty, former White House digital strategy director, was a key figure in this effort. The censorship mostly targeted content the CDC deemed "dangerous" and was aligned with Facebook's so-called "community standards."

This exclusive portal enabled the government to bypass regular email channels, which would have been subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Each request was assigned a tracking number, allowing government officials to monitor Facebook’s compliance. Reclaim The Net noted that by using the portal, the government could avoid federal record-keeping laws.

Gene Hamilton, executive director of AFL, said these documents expose how political figures and bureaucrats collaborated to unconstitutionally censor Americans’ free speech online. "The right to speak—and even to question authority—is fundamental to our national identity. But during a public health crisis, Biden administration officials worked with big tech to silence dissent. The American people deserve to know how far Washington went to violate the First Amendment."

AFL's release of the documents comes after Mark Zuckerberg expressed regret for giving in to government pressure over censorship. In an Aug. 26 letter to the House Judiciary Committee, the Meta CEO admitted that Biden administration officials "repeatedly pressured" Facebook to censor certain content about the COVID-19 pandemic. "With hindsight, we wouldn’t make the same decisions today," Zuckerberg wrote. "I regret that we weren’t more vocal in pushing back." He also emphasized his commitment to resisting any future pressures from administrations of either political side.