F.B.I. Resumes Flagging Foreign Disinformation to Social Media Giants
The F.B.I.’s communications with social media platforms resumed behind the scenes in February. Photo by Samuel Corum for The New York Times
The New York Times
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies quietly resumed coordinating with the major social media companies earlier this year to fight what government officials warned was a coming onslaught of foreign disinformation and influence operations leading up to the presidential election in November. In at least two instances in recent weeks, the companies have taken action to remove malign content, according to the Biden administration and company officials.
Contacts between F.B.I. investigators and the companies — including Facebook, X and YouTube — ground to a halt last year as a legal challenge that accused the Biden administration of censorship wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In June, the court rejected the challenge, one of the first to wrestle with how far the government could go to combat misinformation and disinformation online. It left unanswered what limits, if any, the First Amendment could impose on the government’s ability to communicate with the technology companies.
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