Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs of Arizona is under fire for her request to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to censor individuals who criticized her tweet comparing supporters of former President Donald Trump to Nazis. Hobbs made the controversial tweet in August 2017, when she was a member of the Arizona state legislature, where she equated Trump’s voter base to neo-Nazis. The tweet received backlash, raising concerns about Hobbs’ impartiality as she advanced in her political career and eventually became Arizona’s secretary of state.

Recently leaked emails have revealed that Hobbs made an effort to persuade Twitter, now referred to as X, to take action against those who criticized her tweet. On November 13, 2020, she sent an email from her official Arizona secretary of state email account to Twitter’s support team, asking for measures to be taken against her online critics. Hobbs claimed that she was facing harassment from “alt-right” individuals after her Nazi analogy tweet, although she was unable to provide specific examples or fulfill the information Twitter required.

The revelation of Hobbs’ attempt to silence critics comes at a time when there are widespread accusations of government involvement in online censorship. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security, has faced scrutiny for collaborating with major tech companies to remove content deemed as misinformation, particularly relating to elections and other sensitive topics. Critics argue that CISA’s actions infringe upon free speech rights and accuse the agency of concealing its efforts to monitor domestic content, focusing more on combatting foreign influences, which may potentially violate its legal authority.

As debates surrounding online censorship and concerns about government overreach continue, the delicate balance between safeguarding democracy and preserving individual rights remains a central issue.