Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Office of Public Information threatened to criminally prosecute a website unless it were to take down a video of alleged voting fraud posted as part of their series on #DetroitLeaks.
The letter reads: “This CEASE and DESIST notice is to inform you that you are in violation of Michigan Law. It has come to our attention that you have used your website to post misleading and false election information.... The videos violate Michigan law by intentionally misleading and altering information pertaining to elections.”
This is an absolutely outrageous escalation of the censorship becoming commonplace in the social media landscape — defended with cries of “private companies can do what they want!” In this case, the government itself is threatening prosecution for the publication of statements that state officials consider to be false.
