Byron Donalds slams White House for trying to ‘police’ social media on COVID-19

Byron Donalds is pushing for more transparency in the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds wants answers from social media companies about direction the White House gave to moderate content on COVID-19.

Donalds wants Facebook and Twitter to come clean about directives from the Joe Biden administration to cull “misinformation” on the ongoing pandemic.

“It’s very clear. I want to ask them what has the White House told them. When did they tell them? How frequently has the White House been in contact with them? And that goes for Twitter, too, and any other social media company we can get in,” Donalds said Monday morning on Fox and Friends.

“The White House seems to have forgotten the First Amendment. It’s not their job to police speech. Frankly, the Constitution states that they should never ever ever have that job. It’s not a part of their purview,” Donalds added.

“But because of a pandemic, they think they have the ability to take all powers everywhere. You guys were talking about the door to door (vaccination outreach) programs. That’s not the government’s role,” Donalds said, saying “information” should be provided.

“But you don’t get to go put pressure on private companies to have them remove information, to remove posts. That actually goes against the First Amendment, using private companies to do their dirty work. These companies need to come in and need to answer to Congress about what they’ve been doing and how much pressure the White House has been putting on them,” Donalds said.

The Congressman also told voters he’d made up his mind about vaccinations, and he’s just saying no.

“I’m 42 years old, I had COVID-19,” Donalds said. “I’m not getting vaccinated because I don’t want to. It has nothing to do with what the Surgeon General said. It has nothing to do with what Joe Biden wants. That is my own decision as a freethinking human being. I don’t want to do it. I don’t want the shot. I can think of millions of Americans who are like that. Leave us alone. Please.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki outlined the Biden Administration’s efforts in somewhat less totalitarian terms Thursday.

“Within the Surgeon General’s Office, we’re flagging posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” Psaki said. “We’re working with doctors and medical professionals to connect medical experts with people, who are popular with their audiences with accurate information and boost trusted content. So, we’re helping get trusted content out there.”