DHS: Tech companies’ censorship is ‘grave threat to national security’

The No. 2 official at Homeland Security said Monday that cancel culture censorship by Twitter and other tech companies has created a “dystopian” world and it’s become a “grave threat to national security.”

Ken Cuccinelli, serving as deputy secretary, said it’s not just Twitter’s decision last week to shut down the account of the department’s border chief after he posted a message saying that the border wall can stop gang members and murderers.

He pointed to Hootsuite, a social media company that canceled its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September after company employees rebelled at the association.

“Big Tech would rather see Americans victimized than admit they were wrong,” Mr. Cuccinelli said.

He said Homeland Security was created after the 2001 terrorist attacks in part to communicate threats to the public, and Twitter has become an important means of that communication.

Moves like shutting down acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan’s account are a “grave threat to national security,” Mr. Cuccinelli said.

Twitter shut his account down for nearly 24 hours last week after his wall tweet.

The company said in a statement that it reversed after an “appeal” by Mr. Morgan.

But he said that was obfuscation. In fact, Twitter rejected his first appeal, and it wasn’t until he went public with the attack on his account that the company relented.