WH insists it backs ‘press freedom’ when asked about Ukraine censoring

VILNIUS, Lithuania — President Biden’s national security adviser insisted Tuesday that the White House respects “press freedom” when asked about a new congressional report that says the Biden administration helped Ukrainian officials to censor US social media accounts.

Jake Sullivan didn’t dispute the accuracy of the report when The Post asked about it at the annual NATO summit in Lithuania.

“I have not seen that report,” Sullivan at first when asked for his reaction to the report and whether the White House or National Security Council were involved in the censorship.

“All I will tell you is that the United States and the Biden administration strongly support press freedom, media freedom and would support no steps that would be taken to undermine that,” Sullivan added — despite the White House facing a litany of press-freedom complaints.

The gathering of NATO leaders including President Biden in Europe will focus primarily on supporting Kyiv against the more than 16-month Russian invasion.

The alleged censorship partnership featuring the FBI and the Ukrainian spy agency SBU was revealed Monday in a 27-page report from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, which said multiple journalists and even a US State Department account were flagged for removal.

“Although the SBU’s lists contained American accounts, neither the FBI nor Meta appeared to raise concerns about the provenance of the SBU’s ‘disinformation’ registries. Instead, the FBI demonstrated a willingness to support and implement the SBU’s calls to take down certain accounts, even though the requests included U.S.-based accounts,” the report says.

FBI agent Aleksandr Kobzanets, who until last year was based in Kyiv, allegedly played a leading role and sent 10 batches of requests to Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, in a single month.

He also sent SBU requests to Google, Google-owned YouTube and Twitter, according to the report.

“[O]n March 14, [2022,] Agent Kobzanets sent an e-mail to a Meta employee, writing, ‘[p]lease see attached a request from the SBU containing Facebook and Instagram accounts believed to be spreading disinformation. The SBU requested your review and if appropriate deletion/suspension of these accounts.’

“[T]he FBI, at the request of the SBU, flagged for social media companies the authentic accounts of Americans, including a verified U.S. State Department account and those belonging to American journalists,” the report says.

“The FBI and SBU repeatedly requested the removal or suspension of authentic accounts expressing unambiguously pro-Ukrainian views, as well as those voicing opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin. At times, the FBI would even follow up with the relevant platform to ensure that ‘these accounts were taken down.’”

The report, based on subpoenaed documents, speculates that the censorship effort was driven by “the SBU’s quest for self-preservation” through squashing critics due to the fact that accounts with pro-Ukraine, anti-Russian invasion content were included.

Twitter, which previously faced a public relations firestorm for its October 2020 decision to censor The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop, apparently refused to cooperate.

“On March 27, 2022, Agent Kobzanets sent an e-mail to Twitter, writing, ‘I am including a list of accounts I received over a couple of weeks from the Security Service of Ukraine. These accounts are suspected by the SBU in spreading fear and disinformation.’

“Agent Kobzanets attached a document from the SBU, similar to those he sent to the other social media platforms, with a list of Twitter accounts allegedly ‘used to disseminate disinformation and fake news,’ among other things.

“In response to Agent Kobzanets’s e-mail, Yoel Roth, the head of Twitter’s Trust and Safety team, warned that the list was a ‘mix of individual accounts… and even a few accounts of American and Canadian journalists.’ Roth concluded his e-mail: ‘Any additional information or context… is of course welcome and appreciated.’ Despite being informed that he had attempted to censor ‘American and Canadian journalists,’ Agent Kobzanets did not acknowledge his malfeasance or withdraw the request. Instead, Agent Kobzanets responded to Roth by saying that it was ‘[u]nlikely there will be any additional information or context.’

The FBI facilitation of SBU requests reportedly lasted until at least March of last year. The report says “it appears that the FBI’s cooperation with the SBU remains ongoing” — noting that in April, Kobzanets served on a panel in San Francisco with an SBU leader.

“The SBU’s most brazen request came just one day after Agent Kobzanets sent the two large spreadsheets to Meta on March 1,” the report says.

“On March 2, Agent Kobzanets sent an e-mail to Meta with the subject line ‘additional accounts received from the SBU – believed to be involved in disinformation.’ In the attachment to that e-mail, the SBU accused the provided list of Instagram accounts of ‘distribut[ing] content that promotes war, inaccurately reflects events in Ukraine, justifies Russian war crimes in Ukraine in violation of international law.’

“Incredibly, on this list was the account @usaporusski, which is the official, verified, Russian-language account of the U.S. State Department. Neither the FBI nor the SBU provides an explanation as to how the U.S. State Department account was ‘involved in disinformation.’”

The journalists who were targeted were not named, but the report describes one whose Instagram account was flagged as “an American journalist who serves on the staff of a self-styled ‘socialist’ news organization based in the United States. The journalist has written extensively advocating for transgender rights, and has repeatedly criticized Republicans.”

The Biden White House and various federal agencies have faced criticism for pressuring platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to remove posts accused of containing misinformation.

In the past, the White House even boasted of its role.

Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in July 2021 that the White House was “flagging” alleged misinformation, including about COVID-19 vaccines, for removal.

“We are flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” she said.

Civil libertarians say the First Amendment bars the feds from coercing companies to limit free speech and point out that many previously censored points of view later gained broad acceptance, such as the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic began with a lab leak in China.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.