@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

THE AMAZON FILES – “feeling pressure from the White House” Internal docs subpoenaed by @JudiciaryGOP & @Weaponization indicate that @amazon bowed down to Biden White House pressure to censor BOOKS. 🧵 Thread:

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

Never-before-released internal emails subpoenaed by @JudiciaryGOP reveal that the Biden White House pressured Amazon to censor books that expressed views the White House did not approve of. “Is the [Biden] Admin asking us to remove books”?

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

Andy Slavitt—the senior Biden White House official who demanded that Facebook censor a meme and true information—was pressuring Amazon at the same time. https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-bowed-to-white-house-pressure-removed-covid-posts-2df436b7

WSJ News Exclusive | Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts Internal Meta emails say pressure from Washington was behind a decision to take down posts attributing pandemic to man-made virus wsj.com

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

On March 2, 2021, Slavitt fired off an email demanding to know who he and his White House colleagues could talk to at the company about “the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon?” https://t.co/aWSMp3aSOc

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

How did the Biden White House conclude that there was “propaganda and misinformation” in books sold in Amazon’s bookstore? The White House ran keyword searches for controversial topics, such as “vaccine,” and emailed Amazon when it didn’t like how the search results appeared: https://t.co/FmVYPJQR6n

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

Initially, Amazon decided to hold off on “doing a manual intervention” to censor books. Why? Not out of any commitment to free speech, but because doing so would be “too visible” to the American public and likely to spur criticism from conservative media. https://t.co/166wXiPsha

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

Why was the Biden White House so upset with Amazon? Because Amazon believed “retailers are different than social media communities” & provided their “customers with access to a variety of viewpoints.” For the Biden Admin, letting Americans think for themselves was unacceptable. https://t.co/tKjBTesZoU

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

A week later, on March 9, 2021, Amazon met with the White House. Internal Amazon documents reveal Amazon’s “top talking points” going into the meeting. One of the key questions was whether the Biden White House wanted books banned or just buried deep in the search results: https://t.co/wnWj9eCyJf

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

So how did Amazon’s meeting with the Biden White House go?

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

On March 2, 2021, Amazon determined internally that it would “not be doing a manual intervention today.” The online bookstore set a meeting with senior Biden White House officials for March 9, 2021.

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

What was the purpose of this meeting with the Biden White House? To see if “the Admin is asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order (or both)?” https://t.co/I8qd3WCeY4

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

Why did Amazon agree to take this meeting? Because they were “feeling pressure from the White House” https://t.co/n7Xe0D5lhH

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

After the White House spent a week berating Amazon, what did the online bookstore do? Starting March 9—the same day as its meeting with the White House—Amazon enabled “Do Not Promote” for books that expressed the view that vaccines were not effective. https://t.co/8YEXjAL8BD

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

And that wasn’t all. Amazon also considered other ways “to reduce the visibility” of certain books that the Biden White House disliked. https://t.co/q9JC1LYb5m

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

That’s right. Amazon caved to the pressure from the Biden White House to censor speech. @JudiciaryGOP and @Weaponization are investigating. https://t.co/P1hlB3c5WO

@Jim_Jordan - Rep. Jim Jordan

To be continued…