Hundreds of internal documents expose top U.S. government agencies working closely with social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to censor American freedom of speech — under the guise of fighting disinformation — over several years, as obtained and reported by The Intercept.

The Intercept’s investigative journalist Lee Fang broke the story Monday, confirming what Americans have feared in the current age of censorship that only authoritarian regimes could only dream of enacting in a nation founded on the unabridged right to freedom of speech.

By Monday Night, Fang appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss the bombshell report.

“We looked at really hundreds of documents that paint a vivid picture of the [Federal Bureau of Investigation], the [Department of Homeland Security] closely collaborating with the top social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, to censor various forms of content under the banner of fighting disinformation,” Fang told Carlson.

Fang said the story shows a “very cozy” relationship between the government alphabet agencies like the FBI and DHS and tech giants, where they held monthly meetings — as recently as August — and exchanged emails and texts to shape online discourse.

One of those cozy relationships highlighted in the report shows a text from earlier this year between former DHS official and current Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, and Jen Easterly, a DHS director saying “the government needs to get the private sector, needs to get more comfortable with the government,” according to Fang.

“Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov’t,” Masterson allegedly said to Easterly via text. “It’s really interesting how hesitant they remain.”

Fang alluded to big government and big tech closely collaborating on reports talking about the expanded role of DHS in centering a vast collection of topic areas of policy and political topics.

According to the report, Fang emphasizes key takeaways showing that DHS plans to target inaccurate information on topics such as “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”

The report also said that before the 2020 election, tech companies, including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media, met monthly with the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other government representatives.

Fang said on his social media that Facebook and Twitter created special portals for the government to rapidly request takedowns of content.

A spokesperson from Twitter denied the allegations in a statement to The Intercept, saying the platform “[does] not coordinate with other entities when making content moderation decisions, adding officials “independently evaluate content in line with the Twitter Rules.”

Fang told Carlson that what started as a mission to combat foreign threats in the aftermath of 9/11 has moved towards fighting disinformation using the justification that it radicalizes the homeland and could lead to public health disruptions or political violence.

The Intercept report also includes an anonymous interview with an FBI official who said the department reassigned him from his usual job of countering foreign intelligence services to monitoring American social media accounts during the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020.

“So they have a justification we have these documents, and they’re pushing forward with this broad censorship agenda,” Fang said.

Leaked Documents Show Facebook And Twitter Worked Closely With The FBI And DHS To Police "Disinformation" @lhfang Joins Tucker Carlson Tonight To Discuss This Bombshell Report

Link To The Intercept Piece: https://t.co/PHMEGJVngE pic.twitter.com/mhUkmTDaDe

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 1, 2022

Earlier this year, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, the GOP senatorial candidate, filed a landmark lawsuit in May to expose how top Biden Administration officials allegedly colluded with social media companies to censor freedom of speech.

Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, who has written about the lawsuit, said, according to The Intercept, “there is growing evidence that the legislative and executive branch officials are using social media companies to engage in censorship by surrogate.”

“It is axiomatic that the government cannot do indirectly what it is prohibited from doing directly. If government officials are directing or facilitating such censorship, it raises serious First Amendment questions,” Turley said.

The Biden administration announced earlier this year that its Department of Homeland Security would create a Disinformation Governance Board, which many conservative politicians said would crack down on freedom of speech in an unconstitutional and Orwellian move.

After facing massive opposition, federal authorities shut down the Disinformation Governance Board in August — more than three months after announcing a pause on the Board’s work.

However, according to The Intercept, the federal government has yet to cease its efforts to censor the American people.

Pumpkins are seen at the Great Jack OLantern Blaze, where thousands of hand-carved pumpkins are displayed, at Van Cortlandt Manor on October 8, 2022 in Croton-on-Hudson, ahead of Halloween. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP)

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UPDATED 5:30 PM PT – Monday, October 31, 2022

Millions across the country are gearing up for a night of tricks and treats. Here’s more on how Halloween came to be and how it’s celebrated around the world.

Halloween night is a time for costumes, candy and scares but it was not always a celebration of ghoulish proportions. The annual night of tricks and treats began long ago and has transformed dramatically into the celebration we know today.

The Celts lived about 2,000 years ago in what is now known as Ireland, the U.K. and northern France. They celebrated their new year on November 1st. This day, marked the end of the summer harvest and the beginning of the long, dark winter. It was a time that was often associated with death. The Celts believed that the night before the new year was the boundary where the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.

On the night of October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, where they lit bonfires and dressed in costumes to ward off spirits from causing trouble and damaging crops. They also carried a carved turnip which was believed to protect the one carrying it from evil spirits. These Celtic traditions developed into the ones that millions of people practice every year: carving jack-o-lanterns, dressing up in spooky costumes and trick-or-treating.

After the Roman Empire conquered most of the Celtic territory by 43 A.D., the celebration of Samhain was combined with Roman festivals, which commemorated the passing of the dead and the honored of the goddess of fruit and trees. By the ninth century, the Catholic Church replaced the celebrations with “All Soul’s Day” on November 2nd. The day was implemented to honor the dead. Scholars believe that this celebration was put in place by the Catholic Church to replace the old Celtic festival with a church-sanctioned holiday.

The celebration of Halloween was limited in America. By the middle of the 19th century, it started to turn into more of a celebration of autumn. As immigrants began flooding America, Halloween traditions were brought over, taking the celebration to new heights.

In the late 1800s, Halloween was a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than ghosts and spirits. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for children and adults became a way to celebrate. Because of this, Halloween lost most of its old-school superstitious and religious roots, and it became a fun light-hearted way to ring in the fall season.

 Halloween has continued to haunt celebrators across the world in different ways.

In Mexico, Latin America and in Spain, “All Soul’s Day” or “Día de Los Muertos” is still celebrated from October 31st until November 2nd.

Las Ánimas Festival at the General Cemetery of Mérida (México). Via Getty Images.

Here in America, it’s all about horror movies, haunted houses, costumes and candy.

Children receive treats by candy chutes while trick-or-treating for Halloween in Woodlawn Heights on Oct. 31, 2020 in New York City. The CDC shared on their website alternative ways to still celebrate the holiday while being safe. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)