>>16374627 tyb
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A high-profile coterie of former US military and intelligence officials who tried to discredit The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop are now being accused of taking money from Big Tech to spread “misinformation” about antitrust legislation, The Post has learned.
In an open letter circulated to members of Congress last month, former US security brass, including Leon Panetta and James Clapper — who served as defense secretary and director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, respectively — warned that several proposed bills to rein in Big Tech could carry unintended consequences.
The antitrust bills aim to force a revamp of the business models of Google and Meta, the parent company to Facebook and Instagram, and possibly break them up.
But the open letter claims they could “hinder America’s key technology companies in the fight against cyber and national security risks emanating from Russia’s and China’s growing digital authoritarianism.”
Both Panetta and Clapper previously signed a letter portraying The Post’s Hunter Biden reporting as likely Russian “disinformation,” claiming that they were “deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case” and that it could be “Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election.”