Arizona Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs Helped Censor Social Media Speech While Secretary of State
While serving as Arizona’s secretary of state, governor-elect Katie Hobbs played a role in the censorship of social media speech.
According to documents submitted as part of discovery in the case Missouri v. Biden, Hobbs’ office reached out to the Center for Internet Security (CIS), a nonprofit that acts as a mediator between government entities and social media companies, to request a “review” of Twitter posts claiming that Arizona’s voter registration system was owned and operated by foreign actors.
“This is an attempt to further undermine confidence in the election institution in Arizona,” stated Hobbs’ office.
Within 30 minutes, Twitter told CIS that it would “escalate” their issue with the posts. About seven hours later, Twitter notified CIS that it deleted the offending posts. The entire exchange took place on January 7 last year — the day after the Capitol riots.
TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA’S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US.
“Both Tweets have been removed from service,” stated Twitter.
BREAKING: Email leaks reveal Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was in regular communication with Twitter telling them who to censor pic.twitter.com/j7OsWpxoso
— George (@BehizyTweets) December 4, 2022
In the months following this exchange, revealed in court filings, Hobbs focused on publicizing her view of the danger that misinformation and disinformation pose.
“Lies, conspiracy theories, and disinformation pose a real threat to our democracy,” tweeted Hobbs last April.
Lies, conspiracy theories, and disinformation pose a real threat to our democracy.
Until the legislature is willing to commit to funding robust public education efforts around our elections, open and transparent partnerships like this will continue to be vital. https://t.co/GBs33qlGQW
— Secretary Katie Hobbs (@SecretaryHobbs) April 7, 2021
Hobbs also alluded to her work in eradicating speech deemed misinformation or disinformation while on the campaign trail last September.
“I’ve fought against misinformation and even death threats to defend Arizona’s elections,” wrote Hobbs. “I’ll always fight the spread of misinformation and never back down from telling the truth. We can’t let the conspiracy theories win.”
While some elected officials in our state continue to promote falsehoods about the last election, I’ll always fight the spread of misinformation and never back down from telling the truth.
We can’t let the conspiracy theorists win. We need a change in leadership in Arizona.
— Gov-Elect Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) September 9, 2021
I’ve fought against misinformation and even death threats to defend Arizona’s elections.
Now I’m running for Governor, and one of my opponents is talking to Steve Bannon about decertifying the 2020 results.
RT to help us fight back & defend democracy.https://t.co/ThOUr6W3BI
— Gov-Elect Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) September 13, 2021
After the discovery of Hobbs’ intervention in social media speech went viral over the weekend, Hobbs’ team engaged with mainstream media outlets to counter the controversy.
Allie Bones, Hobbs’ assistant secretary of state and incoming chief of staff, shared a statement with various outlets asserting that it was the secretary of state’s job to not only inform voters, but to get rid of what they deem to not be the truth. Bones dismissed concerns about the government’s control over online speech, insisting that the CIS arrangement was the norm.
“One of the ways we [make sure that voters are informed] is by working to counter disinformation online that can confuse voters,” stated Bones.
Secretary of State @katiehobbs directs Arizonans to monitor election-related speech and suppress conspiracies. Fascinating timing given the recent discovery that Hobbs’ office effectively controlled election-related speech online. pic.twitter.com/W7nskWV63s
— Corinne Murdock (@CorinneMurdock) December 6, 2022
Bones derided GOP leaders who called for an investigation into Hobbs, claiming that they were taking the speech monitoring arrangement out of context.
“This email exchange is from January 2021, as shown in the screenshot. Not only was it taken entirely out of context, it has nothing to do with this year’s midterm election,” stated Bones. “This is yet another example of conspiracy theorists trying to create chaos and confusion by casting doubt on our election system. It’s unfair to Arizona voters and it’s harmful to our democracy.”
The Republican Party of Arizona calls on @GeneralBrnovich to immediately investigate @SecretaryHobbs over a government agency directing a private company to suppress free speech.
+ a few other violations of State Law.
Read Full Letter⤵️ pic.twitter.com/gwgYnu0nrt
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) December 6, 2022
Bones told Axios that “seeking the removal of verifiably false information is not silencing dissent.”
CIS operates as a middle man of sorts for government agencies or officials and social media companies.
Its Election Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) operated a “Situation Awareness Room” to coordinate government and private companies concerning information dissemination and other “election threats” in the 2020 election. CIS noted in a 2020 report that it leveraged relationships with election officials and its past work in “correcting election misinformation” to create the communications hub.
“This groundbreaking single point of coordination for federal, state, local, and private partners allowed all relevant stakeholders to quickly review incoming information, establish ground truths, and
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