Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sent a letter Thursday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing concern over the “harm to free speech” from centralizing social media and hinting at possible future antitrust action against Thread.

Meta-owned Twitter’s competitor, Instagram’s Threads app, launched on July 6 and “looks like a copy-paste project aimed solely at keeping Twitter’s audience under Facebook’s control,” Bailey told Zuckerberg in the letter. Bailey expressed concern about Facebook’s history of censorship and its impact on the new platform, pointing to evidence in his office’s Missouri v. Biden lawsuit that federal officials colluded with Facebook to censor protected speech.

“My office is committed to defending Missourians’ right to free speech from the largest First Amendment violation in American history,” Bailey told the DCNF. “We are warning Zuckerberg that the unconstitutional practices that have plagued Facebook’s platform over the last few years will not work on its newest platform, Threads.”

The letter reminded Zuckerberg of his legal obligation to “preserve all documents and electronically stored information” as required by law: law For any “potential investigation”. Based on current information, Bailey wrote that Threads “seems to be nothing more than an attempt at a monopoly.” (Related: Federal Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s Censorship Efforts Indicate First Amendment Moves Forward)

“Facebook’s attempt to monopolize social media does serious harm,” he told Zuckerberg. “As Facebook tightens its grip on social media, privacy has worsened and mental health crises have surged, especially among young girls.”

To ground his free speech concerns, Bailey pointed Zuckerberg to the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit. As a result, a federal judge on July 4 issued an injunction (currently temporarily suspended by a federal appeals court) to block government officials from communicating with social media platforms for the purpose of censoring protected speech, and issued an injunction.

“This lawsuit has shown us that it is much easier to censor speech when there are only a few tech executives that the federal government needs to pressure,” Bailey said in the letter. “Certainly, your company is featured prominently in the evidence we have obtained showing illegal collusion between the federal government and technology companies.”

“Your attempt to further integrate the world of social media under your control threatens the free speech of millions of Americans,” Bailey continued.

document Information obtained through the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit filed by Bailey with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry revealed that federal officials in many agencies engage in censorship activities. Examples include the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) operating a “switchboard” that allows state and local election officials to report misinformation, Dr. Anthony Fauci influencing social media companies to censor leaked lab theories, and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials flagging posts for removal on platforms.

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