It sounds like Fox News reporters are almost as committed to spreading propaganda about the Biden Administration as Lauren Boebert. Neither can wrap their minds around the government’s role in the spread of false information on social media.

Today, Peter Doocy asked Jen Psaki about what he characterized as the government “spying” on people’s Facebook posts. This is, to put it with extreme understatement, absurd. Exactly how does one “spy” on people’s public posts on Facebook? Is there any more “public” means to express oneself than Facebook? Maybe Twitter?

If a policeman sees a man standing in the Walmart parking lot with a big sign saying something political or dangerous, is that policeman “spying” on that person? If the policeman goes into Walmart and says, “There’s a guy in the parking lot with a dangerous sign,” is that policeman somehow in cahoots with a government program to spy on people?

From a legal perspective, it’s the exact same question with respect to the government watching Facebook for COVID disinformation and flagging posts for Facebook. Yesterday Lauren Boebert said that the Biden administration sounds like North Korea and China. But the differences are obvious. The government isn’t “spying,” and moreover, the government doesn’t force Facebook or Twitter to take anything down. The companies do so themselves. As a private company, they have that right, just like Walmart.

Watch Jen Psaki take Peter to school with more anger than usual. The details are provided by Mediaite and the video is below. It is not like we at this site are geniuses. But we said the exact same thing last night in writing about Boebert, it is that obvious.

DOOCY: “For how long has the administration been spying on people’s Facebook profiles looking for vaccine misinformation?”

As Mediaite says, Psaki responded:

“Well that was quite a loaded and inaccurate question,” Psaki replied, adding that the Biden administration is frequently in “touch with a range of media outlets” before being interrupted by Doocy, to which Psaki said, “let me finish.” Psaki said that the White House is in regular contact with media outlets just like it is “in regular touch with social media platforms.”

“This is publicly open information,” she continued. “People sharing information online just as you are all reporting information on your news stations.”

"That was quite a loaded and inaccurate question" — Jen Psaki to Peter Doocy after he characterizes the Biden administration looking at public Facebook posts as "spying" pic.twitter.com/5GEvO69WVO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 16, 2021

Right. Peter needs to start acting like someone who deserves a prominent seat in front of the president’s spokesperson. Right now, referring to the Biden administration’s actions as “spying” is as much disinformation as anything on Facebook right now.

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