Whistleblower Group Says Big Tech Blocking Ads for Documentary Alleging Biden Corruption

A conservative advocacy group asserts big tech firms still haven’t run any of their ads for a documentary on alleged corruption by the Biden family, a week after it raised concerns about potential censorship to leaders in Congress.

Empower Oversight’s documentary, “Shielded by Power: The Whistleblowers vs. The Big Guy,” covers how, in 2020, social media companies censored the story first reported by the New York Post about Hunter Biden’s laptop that had negative information about then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The group has recorded interviews with members of Congress, journalists, and other investigators who helped uncover the stories on the Biden family.

It is crowdfunding to cover the cost of production and seeks to direct people to the website through ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt said the companies have most recently asked him to wait. He said he was surprised about X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, a culprit in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.

In 2022, the “Twitter Files” were released, showing the measures taken inside the company to suppress the New York Post story.

“With X it’s the same thing, and they haven’t outright said why,” Leavitt told The Daily Signal. “I don’t have reason to believe Elon Musk wants to censor this. But none of these platforms will identify the reasons the ads haven’t run.”

Empower Oversight’s near-term goal is to raise $50,000 for production, and the long-term goal is to raise $300,000, Leavitt said. The ad is meant to direct people to the Indiegogo crowdfunding page, which shows it has raised more than $7,000.

While the motives were clear in 2020 for blocking a news story critical of Joe Biden, Leavitt said the platforms have little reason to avoid running ads now.

“This is not about any current candidates,” Leavitt said. “These are historic events. No Biden is on the ballot.”

Leavitt wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and three House committee chairmen seeking an investigation into why the companies aren’t running the ads and whether viewpoint discrimination is involved.

“After thorough questioning, one customer service specialist at Meta did say the platform doesn’t ‘support the scope of this content,’” Leavitt said in the April 1 letter that also went to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; and House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.

“But not only is this reminiscent of prior instances of viewpoint discrimination—it constitutes suppression of the story of Facebook’s very own past actions on this exact same topic,” the letter continues.

The letter adds that Meta and Google suspended their advertising accounts.

Google spokesman Nate Funkhouser denies that’s the case.

“We have found no evidence to support these claims,” Funkhouser told The Daily Signal. “The advertiser account linked to this organization is active and able to run ads.”

All ads and advertisers on Google must abide by Google ad policies. Enforcement of this can include removal of individual ads or account suspensions, Funkhouser said. But he said he’s not aware that either happened with Empower Oversight.

Empower Oversight provided screenshots of both an April 2 denial and a notice sent Friday that said the ad was blocked because it pertained to an election.

Funkhouser did not respond when The Daily Signal asked him about these images.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and X did not reply to inquiries for this story on Thursday and Friday.

Empower Oversight is the watchdog group that represented two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers—Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler—who testified before Congress about how federal authorities investigating Hunter Biden seemed to show special treatment.

“Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler are honest and skilled investigators who did a patriotic thing by blowing the whistle. They’ve suffered shameful smears and retaliation, but in the end the truth always wins,” Grassley told The Daily Signal in a statement for this story.

The two IRS agents also revealed Hunter Biden’s laptop had been accessed via a signed search warrant, had been in FBI possession since fall 2019, and had been authenticated months before the New York Post published its story.

Hunter Biden was convicted on federal gun possession and tax charges in 2024, but his father pardoned him. The 46th president has consistently said he has never profited from the business activities of Hunter Biden or other family members.

The post Whistleblower Group Says Big Tech Blocking Ads for Documentary Alleging Biden Corruption appeared first on The Daily Signal.