GOP's Massie Says Dem Senator Asked About Censoring Info That Would Cause Bank Runs

GOP's Massie Says Dem Senator Asked About Censoring Info That Would Cause Bank Runs


A Republican lawmaker says he heard a Democratic senator ask about how it would be possible to censor information about troubled banks that could lead to bank runs in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank late last week.

On Sunday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) tweeted that an unidentified Democratic senator had inquired about the government’s ability to censor information that might trigger a bank run.

“Just got off of a zoom meeting with Fed, Treasury, FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation], House, and Senate,” Massie tweeted. “A Democrat Senator essentially asked whether there was a program in place to censor information on social media that could lead to a run on the banks.”

During an appearance Monday evening on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” show, Massie identified the senator as Mark Kelly.

Massie also wrote that Kelly suggested “that government should work with social media companies to censor information that could lead to a run on banks.”

Without specifying Kelly’s identity, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) also acknowledged Kelly’s query regarding the use of digital censorship as a means of government control, Breitbart News reported.

“On a briefing with Biden Under Secretary of the Treasury Nellie Liang regarding the SVB BAILOUT they are working towards and a member asked if they were reaching out to Facebook and Twitter to monitor misinformation and ‘bad actors.’ And this administration AGAIN just committed the federal government to interfere with free speech. Unacceptable!” she tweeted.

In an interview with Public, Massie stated that Kelly presented his proposal for online censorship as a means of restricting foreign actors’ communications.

“I believe [Kelly] couched it in a concern that foreign actors would be doing this,” said Massie. “But he didn’t suggest the censorship should be limited to foreigners or to things that were untrue. The people from the three agencies couldn’t answer him and just sort of took a pass on the question.”

Massie said the response to the Democrat senator’s question was, “We will get back to you on that.”

Public framed “Kelly’s call for censorship” as coming “at a time of growing demands from Democrats for more censorship by social media companies.” The news outlet concluded by highlighting the Democratic party’s widespread antagonism towards the First Amendment, as well as their general disregard for the fundamental principles of free speech and expression.

The outlet then asked: “Why is that? Why are Democrats suddenly at war with the First Amendment? What exactly is going on?”


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