By Congresswoman Lauren Boebert – February 9, 2023
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert introduced the Exposing Lewd Outlays for social Networking companies Act, or the ELON Act, to audit government collusion with big tech to censor Americans. The ELON Act also places a one-year moratorium on any payments going from the FBI to big tech companies.
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert stated, “Big tech is in bed with the FBI and other agencies to the point where Congress can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. The millions of dollars sent to Twitter that we know of during an election cycle, when they were at the same time censoring the Hunter Biden laptop from hell, is incredibly concerning. My bill, the ELON Act, requires a report from all agencies on federal dollars sent to big tech companies. My legislation also places a one-year moratorium on tax dollars going to big tech companies. We must expose the incestuous relationship between big tech and the federal government. My bill does exactly that.”
Background:
The Twitter files exposed the collusion between Big Tech and the Department of Justice. It confirmed shady content moderation practices including the blacklisting of conservatives, censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story as misinformation to influence the 2020 election, and the revolving door of personnel from the FBI to Twitter HQ before the platform was purchased by Elon Musk last year.
Late last year, Michael Shellenberger reported internal emails at Twitter with the subject line “Run the business- we made money!” This email informed then-Twitter Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker that the FBI paid Twitter $3,415,323.00 between October 2019 and February 2021.
The FBI confirmed the nearly $3.5 million payment to Twitter was a “reimbursement” for the “reasonable costs and expenses associated with their response to a legal process… For complying with legal requests, and a standard procedure.” FBI officials also stated that Twitter isn’t the only social media company that is being paid by the federal agency, stating “We don’t just reimburse Twitter.”
After this information was reported, Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “Government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor info from the public.
American tax dollars should not be used to stifle the First Amendment. Congress must investigate when and why the FBI was paying off Big Tech platforms. The ELON Act works to find the answers to these questions and put an end to this corrupt practice.
The Exposing Lewd Outlays for social Networking companies Act, or the ELON Act, requires the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a report on all payments made by the Department of Justice since January 1, 2015, to Twitter, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Apple. This report will be submitted to the House Committees on Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Intelligence as well as the Senate Committees on Judiciary, Commerce, and Intelligence.
The ELON Act also places a one-year moratorium on the Department of Justice from making any new payments to these companies.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-01), Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-09), Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15), Rep. Eric Burlison (MO-07), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Andrew Clyde (GA-09), Barry Moore (AL-02), and Rep. Troy Nehls (TX-22) cosponsored the ELON Act.
The ELON Act is supported by the American Principles Project.
The full text of the ELON Act is available here.
