Wray’s Claim About FBI Fact-Checked By Twitter’s ‘Community Notes’

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was called out late last week when Twitter’s “Community Notes” feature fact-checked the organization’s tweet about the bureau’s targeting of parents who objected to radical leftist ideology being taught in schools.

In a statement posted on Twitter, the FBI claimed that they do not have agents assigned to investigate parents at school board meetings — despite numerous whistleblowers coming forward to allege that they had done just that. One such whistleblower was suspended FBI agent Steve Friend, who testified in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in May.

Despite Friend’s allegations, FBI Director Christopher Wray has claimed that the FBI does not investigate school board meetings.

“The FBI is not in the business of investigating or policing speech at school board meetings, or anywhere else for that matter. And we’re not gonna start now,” Wray falsely claimed during his testimony before Congress on July 12.

Friend later called Wray out on Twitter for his lies, writing: “The @FBI Director told @JudiciaryGOP that special agents did not conduct surveillance of school boards. He lied. The Joint Terrorism Task Force in my office did it.”

The FBI continued pushing their claims in a statement posted on Twitter, but were soon fact-checked by the platform’s “Community Notes” feature.

“The FBI is not and never has been in the business of policing or investigating speech by parents at school board meeting…when there’s threats of violence — we’re going to work with our state and local partners as we always have,” the statement read.

The bureau also provided a link in their tweet to more information about their claims.

“The suggestion that the FBI’s creation of a threat tag somehow means we’re targeting or using counterterrorism tools to go after parents for exercising their First Amendment rights is completely inaccurate,” the webpage read.

However, the “Community Note” under the tweet refuted the FBI’s claims.

“The FBI’s statement is misleading. On May 18, 2023, former FBI agent Steve Friend testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he and others were directed to surveil and document parents attending school board meetings,” the note read, adding a link to a C-SPAN video of whistleblower testimony.