This past weekend, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) explained that at least one prominent Democrat senator sounded the call for censorship of the information that should be made available to the American people in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank this past week.
As part of a Sunday tweet, Massie explained that a still currently unnamed Democrat senator stepped up to ask what options government agencies possess to fully censor information that could cause a massive run on the banks.
“Just got off of a zoom meeting with Fed, Treasury, FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation], House, and Senate,” explained Massie.
Just got off of a zoom meeting with Fed, Treasury, FDIC, House, and Senate.
A Democrat Senator essentially asked whether there was a program in place to censor information on social media that could lead to a run on the banks.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 13, 2023
“A Democrat Senator essentially asked whether there was a program in place to censor information on social media that could lead to a run on the banks,” stated Massie.
Known as a highly popular bank among U.S. tech startups, Silicon Valley Bank was forced to try and deal with a sudden bank run this past Friday. This crisis ended up spreading out and becoming the largest American bank failure since the collapses that took place in 2008.
The storm rolled in Wednesday of last week as Silicon Vally Bank released an announcement that is had been forced to sell a large number of securities, resulting in loses to the tune of $1.8 billion, and was now planning to sell off an additional $2.25 billion in new shares to try and deal with the losses incurred.
Reportedly, this sparked a number of venture capital firms to offer up recommendations that companies quickly take all of their money out of the bank. When the bank’s customers attempted to pull out a staggering $42 billion, the bank ran out of funds.
All throughout the day Thursday, the bank’s stock plummeted close to 60%.
The panic started to spiral out beyond Silicon Valley Bank this past Thursday. Investors started using other banks to pull out their funds as well, sparking concerns that an event similar to the 2008 crisis was kicking off. This event cause the stock of those banks to sink as well.
This past Friday morning, a halt on all the trading of all Silicon Valley Bank shares was put in place, and regulators in California shut down the bank roughly 48 hours in the wake of the crisis kicking off.
SVB was just about 40 years old and held the title of the 16th-largest U.S. bank prior to being shuttered.
Massie expressed that the response to the Democrat Senator’s question was “We will get back to you on that.”
Massie also issued a response to one user on social media that commented that while they stand as being anti-censorship, “spreading unfounded rumors to promote a run on a bank” is the same thing as “yelling fire in a crowded theater.”
“What about yelling fire in a theater that’s on fire?” Massie concluded to the statement.
