London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Sep 05, 2026

House Republicans call out Biden surgeon general for 'colluding with Big Tech'

House Republicans call out Biden surgeon general for 'colluding with Big Tech'

GOP reps raise concerns about Vivek Murthy working with social media platforms to censor coronavirus misinformation

House Oversight Committee Republicans issued a strong rebuke Friday against President Biden's surgeon general for working with social media companies to pull coronavirus disinformation off their platforms.

In a letter to Dr. Vivek Murthy, the Republicans accuse the surgeon general of trying to censor Americans on social media and suggest the White House may be "colluding with Big Tech."

"In an apparent effort to stifle scientific and medical debate, the Biden Administration is taking affirmative steps to moderate and censor Americans’ speech," the letter to Murthy, first obtained by Fox, says. "This is unconscionable."

The letter was organized by GOP Reps. Bob Gibbs of Ohio, Byron Donalds of Florida and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer of Kentucky.

The GOP lawmakers are requesting a trove of documents from Murthy by Aug. 6, including all communication the Surgeon General's office has had with Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet, TikTok, Reddit and Snap.


The lawmakers say the Biden Administration's efforts to work with Big Tech to police objectionable content is a serious threat to the First Amendment.

"It should concern every American of every political stripe that Big Government is teaming up with Big Tech to merge into Big Brother," Gibbs said in a statement to Fox.

Donalds said it's "profoundly concerning to hear that the Biden-Harris Administration is colluding with Big Tech." The freshman lawmaker argued that Americans should have "unfettered information and make decisions for themselves."

The letter to Murthy comes a day after nearly the entire House GOP caucus wrote to President Biden telling him he's acting like a "Cuban dictator" with his social media censorship campaign and urged him to stop working with Facebook and other platforms to flag coronavirus fake news.

With coronavirus cases on the rise and vaccination rates slowing in the United States, the White House launched last week an effort to crack down on misinformation, starting with a warning from Surgeon General Murthy that bogus information about coronavirus is an "urgent threat" to public health.

The Surgeon General's office issued a new report titled, "Confronting Health Misinformation," that makes recommendations for social media platforms to "impose clear consequences for accounts that repeatedly violate platform policies."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also announced that the Biden administration has been "flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation" to have the platform remove.

The White House insists the social media misinformation is literally "killing people" with individuals refusing to get a vaccine against a preventable illness because of lies they are believing on the internet. The White House has been frustrated with social media companies, especially Facebook, for not doing more to pull false content before it goes viral.

For its part, Facebook has pushed back hard against the Biden Administration by touting everything it's done to spread helpful COVID-19 information, such as where to find vaccination sites, and said the White House was just looking for "scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals."

Biden had set a July 4 goal of having 70% of adult Americans at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19, but he missed that goal as vaccination rates have slowed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), just over 68% of adults in the country had received at least one vaccination shot as of Wednesday.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Urges Households to Keep Emergency Supplies Amid Severe El Niño Warning
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Sets Out Regional Industry and Prison Reform Agenda
Siemens Energy Wins Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor Manufacturing Contract
UK Mortgage Costs Rise as Gilt Yields and Swap Rates Climb
Bank of England’s Huw Pill Calls for Prompt Rate Rise as Inflation Risks Persist
National Audit Office Warns UK Is Unprepared for Major Food Supply Disruptions
British Army Suspends Some Training Exercises as Budget Pressures Intensify
HMS Queen Elizabeth Deploys as NATO Allied Response Force Command Ship
Reform UK Suspends Two Senior Officials Over Alleged Foreign Donation Scheme
UK Reasserts Falkland Islands Sovereignty After Argentina Threatens Sanctions
Scottish Tech Company PureLifi Enters Administration With More Than 40 Job Losses
Scottish Government Names Alyn Smith Innovation and Education Minister
Green Party Co-Leader Zack Polanski to Contest By-Election for Keir Starmer’s Former Seat
Palestine Action Activists Appeal Terrorism-Related Prison Sentences
PwC Report Highlights Persistent Regional Spending-Power Divide Across Britain
UK Names Hundreds of Employers for Minimum Wage Violations
UK Commits £400 Million to International Tropical Forest Fund
UK Extends £2 Bus Fare Cap Across England Through 2027
UK Warns Travellers as US-Iran Tensions Disrupt Middle East Security and Shipping
Andy Burnham Faces Kemi Badenoch in First Prime Minister’s Questions
Kemi Badenoch Names Andrew Griffith Shadow Chancellor in Conservative Reshuffle
UK Treasury and Markets Focus on Fiscal Headroom Ahead of Autumn Budget
UK Government Reverses Early Release Plans for Serious Violent and Sexual Offences
UK and France Review Border Cooperation After 48,000 Small-Boat Crossings Prevented
UK Growth Outlook Weakens as Inflation and Energy Costs Rise
Breeding Tropical Mosquitoes Discovered in East London
Sadiq Khan Agrees to Search of Digital Communications in Palantir Lawsuit
Scottish Protesters Call for Moratorium on AI Data Centre Expansion
Uber Drivers Bring London Class Action Over Algorithmic Management
Reform UK Accepts £4 Million Donation From Cryptocurrency Billionaire Pardoned by Trump
Justice Secretary Tightens Early Release Scheme to Exclude Manslaughter Offenders
Kemi Badenoch Reshuffles Conservative Team as Reform UK Pressure Grows
British Mortgage Rates Rise as Global Bond Sell-Off Pushes Up Borrowing Costs
UK Records Hottest Summer on Record in 2026
UK Government Urges Households to Stock Essential Supplies Ahead of Severe El Niño Risk
UK Prepares Targeted Sanctions Over Israeli Settlements in West Bank
Reform UK Faces Electoral and Police Scrutiny Over Foreign Donation Allegations
UK and France Expand Channel Migration Cooperation as Trade Tensions Surface
UK Marks Merchant Navy Day With Tribute to Civilian Seafarers
Burnham Pays Tribute to Two Police Officers Killed on Duty in Northern England
Booking.com Left Fake Downing Street Listing Online for Two Months, Which Says
Burnham and Macron to Review UK-France Cooperation on Channel Crossings
UK Business Confidence Improves Slightly but Investment Concerns Persist
Burnham Faces Pressure Over Future North Sea Oil and Gas Licences
Burnham Pushes Wider English Devolution Through ‘Number Ten North’
British Chambers of Commerce Raises 2026 UK Growth Forecast to 1%
Keir Starmer Resigns as Holborn and St Pancras MP, Triggering By-Election
UK Chancellor Faces Tighter Budget Headroom as Long-Term Borrowing Costs Rise
UK Government Weighs Thames Water Nationalisation as Financial Crisis Deepens
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Faces First Commons Questions Over Tax and Spending Plans
×