CISA "Switchboarding" — US Government Uses Agency to Route Takedown Requests to Platforms
Documents released through the Twitter Files (2022–2023) and subsequent congressional investigations revealed that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) operated a "switchboarding" system routing federal government content flagging requests to social media platforms. DHS-affiliated bodies including the Stanford Internet Observatory and the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) participated in a coordinated infrastructure — later called the "Censorship Industrial Complex" by the House Judiciary Committee — that collated government, NGO, and platform moderation requests. A federal judge in Missouri v. Biden (2023) found this likely violated the First Amendment, calling it "the most massive attack against free speech in United States' history." The Fifth Circuit upheld the injunction; the Supreme Court reversed on standing grounds in Murthy v. Missouri (2024).