Following Silicon Valley Bank’s failure on Friday, some frustrated customers took to social media to speculate about possible after-effects.
One Democratic senator wanted them to be censored.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz, jumped on a conference call Sunday with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, and the FDIC… and he asked for possible ways to censor social media to prevent a bank run, according to a colleague’s remarks to the media.
Kelly — a former astronaut and the husband of a former congresswoman — won a very competitive election in 2022 after winning a special election two years prior.
“On our conference call, led by [Senate President Chuck] Schumer, with Fed, FDIC, and Treasury, a democrat senator asked the three agencies if there was a program underway on social media to censor information that would lead to a bank run,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told Public, a Substack-based newsletter run by independent reporter Michael Shellenberger.
Massie declined to use the senator’s name. He said that he was on the call with about 200 other officials, along with staffers from both parties.
“I believe he couched it in a concern that foreign actors would be doing this,” Massie told the outlet. “But he didn’t suggest the censorship should be limited to foreigners or to things that were untrue. The people from the three agencies couldn’t answer him and just sort of took a pass on the question.”
Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., identified Kelly by name, after discussing the matter with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“I have confirmed with [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy that it was Sen. Mark Kelly who asked on last night’s zoom call whether the call hosts (at Treasury, FDIC, etc) were interacting with SM platforms and on the lookout for foreign influence that might promote bank runs,” Rep. Bishop told Public.
Some investors like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban have been accused of aggravating the panic through social media. Cuban went on Twitter to warn of chaos after possible losses for customers with more than $250,000 in the bank.
“The tragedy of SVB is that its not the wealthy taking the hit. It’s the thousands of companies who borrowed from SVB and were required to keep their cash in SVB. Those entrepreneurs and their employees and vendors are feeling the pain,” Cuban tweeted. He added, “$250k is too low.”
One GOP congressman described Friday’s incident as “the first Twitter fueled bank run.”
But to even suggest censoring American citizens to control their behavior is undemocratic, critics said.
EXCLUSIVE: Senator Mark Kelly Called For Social Media Censorship To Prevent Bank Runs
Democrats are demanding ever-more censorship in a widening social media panichttps://t.co/M0xEK0b2vb
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 13, 2023
Shellenberger is best known for publicizing the Twitter files. He now publishes a newsletter with freelance journalist Leighton Woodhouse.
The Horn editorial team