An employee with Meta asked the FBI in March 2022 about creating a “24/7 channel” to expedite the Ukrainian government’s online censorship requests, a July 10 report from the House Judiciary shows.
The Meta employee emailed FBI Special Agent Aleksandr Kobzanets on March 14, 2022 about setting up a “24/7 channel” for emergency censorship requests from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), according to the House Judiciary report.
“Also need to chat ASAP about ERs [Emergency Requests] from SBU. We cannot accept any email from their domain and they seem to be hesitant to bother you with too many requests. Just want to figure out how to set up a 24/7 channel for their ERs,” the employee wrote, according to the report. He also suggested giving a law enforcement email to “Volodmyr,” who was not identified by the House report. (RELATED: FBI Helped Censor Americans For Ukrainian Intel Agency Full Of Russian Spies, House Report Concludes)
🚨🚨🚨 The FBI, on behalf of a COMPROMISED Ukrainian Intelligence Service, requested the removal of a verified U.S. State Department account and an American journalist.
Read the latest @Weaponization report here: https://t.co/8OsplRW2Jf pic.twitter.com/ManNgQp1DP
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 10, 2023
It’s unclear if the FBI set up a “24/7 channel” for the SBU to send censorship requests. The Bureau declined to comment on the House Judiciary report.
Kobzanets had emailed Meta with Facebook and Instagram accounts to review and potentially censor on behalf of the SBU. His coordination with social media companies on behalf of Ukraine began shortly after Russia invaded the country in February 2022, the House report shows.
In March 2022, Kobzanets sent Meta two spreadsheets with Facebook posts and accounts flagged by the SBU, including American residents with active accounts, according to the report. He also requested Meta censor a Russian language U.S. State Department account and an American journalist, leading the House Judiciary to conclude the FBI did not properly vet the accounts identified by the SBU, the report continued.
Kobzanets made similar requests to other tech platforms such as Google, YouTube and Twitter, the report concluded. He worked closely with FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan, who orchestrated meetings with the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and tech companies ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to the House Judiciary Committee.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later fired the head of the SBU and said 60 treason cases were being opened against officials from the SBU and the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office, the New York Post reported in July 2022.
Meta did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.