The following is an excerpt from Just The News.

The Biden White House inquired in meetings with Facebook executives asking whether Facebook could tweak its algorithm to showcase stories from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal over content posted by “polarizing” conservative journalists and commentators in early 2021, according to meeting notes the social media firm turned over to Congress that are alarming some constitutional lawyers.

The alleged focus of the meetings was to assist the administration while it struggled to combat Covid vaccine hesitancy.

The memos, reviewed by Just the News, chronicle a series of meetings between White House digital director Rob Flaherty and executives from Facebook, now known as Meta, in spring 2021 as the first questions about the efficacy and safety of Covid-19 vaccine began surging on social media.

The memos delivered recently under subpoena to the House Judiciary Committee make clear the White House was actively interacting with Facebook, and sometimes pressuring the social media giant to moderate content in a way that would encourage more Americans to get inoculations.

On April 14, 2021, for instance, the White House’s Flaherty asked Facebook whether it could promote The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal over The Daily Wire and Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren, according to Facebook meeting documents obtained by Just the News.

Lahren had publicly announced she was choosing to skip taking the vaccine, and Daily Wire filed one of the landmark lawsuits challenge Biden’s mandate that companies force their employees to get the shots as a term of keeping their jobs.

Prior to Flaherty’s question, he discussed Covid vaccine hesitancy with Facebook employees during the meeting, asking what the company was doing about it.

“We have to explain to President, Ron, people, why there is misinfo on the internet, bigger problem than FB,” Flaherty was quoted as saying. “Where issues are, what interventions are, how well they are working, for products, want to engage in things that you know to be effective. I don’t even care about specific methodology, you have better, richer data than we’ll ever have.

A Facebook employee in the meeting is quoted as explaining the platform’s strategy on censorship and moderation, specifically citing Lahren’s refusal to get the vaccine as an example.

“In terms of interventions, know that there are groups that are hot spots – mandatory post approvals – admins have to approve posts. If violating content approved, gives the group a strike. I’m uncovering new examples on comments – public figures on comments might be contributing more. Tomi Lahren posted on how she’s not getting the vaccine. Even with comment reduction, still struggling if we reduce comments from public figures, Tomi Lahren makes a post,” the notes quoted the Facebook executive as saying.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said last week in a long thread on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that evidence his committee is assembling showed the Biden White House was pressuring Facebook to change moderation policies to address vaccine hesitancy in a way that threatened free speech.

“Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee prove that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House,” Jordan tweeted.

Constitutional law professors denounced the White House’s actions outlined in the new memos obtained by Just the News, saying they smacked of censorship and raised serious First Amendment issues.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Just the News on Wednesday, “This is why I have asked Congress to pass a law barring federal employees from engaging in censorship and targeting of citizens. Agencies have a right to speak in their own voices. Instead, the Biden Administration sought to engage in what I have called ‘censorship through surrogate.’ This is part of that pattern.”

The White House and Meta, which owns Facebook, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

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