The federal government under President Joe Biden has engaged in broad efforts to censor Americans’ speech and manipulate information relevant to elections, according to a new congressional 17,000-page report from the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The report is the culmination of work by congressional Republicans to document what they view as abuses of federal authority by a diverse range of federal agencies and officials.

“By investigating, uncovering, and documenting executive branch misconduct, the Select Subcommittee has taken important steps to ensure that the federal government no longer works against the American people,” the report states. “This work is not complete, but it is a necessary first step to stop the weaponization of the federal government.”

The congressional investigation into alleged federal overreach and collaboration with technology companies has unveiled a shocking pattern of censorship, political interference, and suppression of dissent.

According to the reports released, federal agencies coordinated with social media platforms to limit content on topics ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the 2020 presidential election. The abuses of federal power detailed in the report were diverse, but the thrust was always to curtail the political power of President Donald Trump and block his return to office.

The subcommittee outlined extensive efforts by government entities to pressure Big Tech into censoring politically inconvenient information, describing a “systemic collaboration” that jeopardizes public trust in democratic institutions.

“Federal agencies acted in concert with private companies to limit the dissemination of viewpoints deemed unfavorable or politically inconvenient,” the report states, warning of the long-term implications for governance and free speech.

The report alleges that the FBI played a central role in influencing the 2020 presidential election by conducting more than 30 meetings with social media executives. Those meetings have been the subject of previous news reports.

According to the report, the FBI used these meetings to raise concerns about potential “hack-and-leak” operations involving Hunter Biden’s laptop, as if the federal agency was preparing social media companies for something it knew would happen.

Despite its own internal knowledge of the laptop’s authenticity, the FBI would later encourage media outlets to suppress reporting about Hunter Biden in the name of protecting U.S. national security.

When the New York Post published its October 2020 story detailing emails that suggested influence peddling by the Biden family, social media platforms cooperated and suppressed the story, flagging it as misinformation and significantly limiting its reach just weeks before Election Day.

The subcommittee claims these actions swayed voter perceptions during a pivotal moment. Citing post-election polls, the report argues that greater public awareness of the Hunter Biden story could have influenced outcomes in key battleground states.

“The FBI’s involvement in these matters demonstrates an unacceptable politicization of law enforcement,” the report asserts.

The investigation also examined federal involvement in moderating content during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal agencies, including the White House, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are accused of pressuring platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to suppress content questioning vaccines, mask mandates, and other policies.

The subcommittee found evidence of government officials flagging posts for removal, even when the content was accurate but politically inconvenient. These efforts, the reports allege, amounted to an unconstitutional attempt to sidestep First Amendment protections.

Beyond elections and the pandemic, the report claims the FBI targeted religious and parental groups. Internal documents reveal surveillance of Catholic Americans and parents protesting school policies, with whistleblowers alleging retaliation for attempting to expose these practices. Reassignment and termination were among the consequences faced by those who spoke out.

The subcommittee highlights a pattern where social media companies became proxies for government-driven censorship. Through regulatory threats and financial incentives, federal agencies allegedly coerced platforms into controlling the flow of information and speech to benefit narrow political interests.

“Social media companies became an extension of federal authority, undermining their independence and the constitutional rights of users,” the report notes.

The subcommittee’s findings raise broader concerns about the normalization of censorship and the erosion of democratic norms. By leveraging private companies to carry out its agenda, the federal government bypassed constitutional safeguards, the report warns, creating a dangerous precedent that could further undermine trust in public institutions. The report also cautions that adversaries could exploit these revelations to damage the nation’s credibility on democracy and human rights.

In response, the subcommittee recommends independent audits of agencies like the FBI and DHS, legislative reforms to restrict government communication with private companies, and enhanced protections for whistleblowers. It also calls for mandatory public disclosure of government content moderation requests and strict controls on the use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence in censorship.

A previous report from the subcommittee showed that faith in the FBI among local law enforcement partners had reached an all-time low due to the perception of political bias.