Spicer says 'looking into' reports of a crackdown on federal workers' communication

The White House is looking into reports of a clamp-down on federal agency employees' social media postings and other information flows, press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday.

“I don’t know. That story literally is breaking as we were entering the briefing room,” Spicer told reporters. “We’re looking into it.”


Reports emerged Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s administration has blocked EPA employees from posting social media updates or speaking to reporters. A similar move was reported over the weekend with employees of the Interior Department.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that when there’s an administration turnover, that we’re gonna review the policies,” Spicer said, referring specifically to the EPA reports.

The Interior Department was ordered Friday to shut down its Twitter accounts after the National Park Service retweeted an image comparing the crowd sizes of Trump and former President Barack Obama’s inauguration crowd sizes, as well as a tweet that the White House website had scrubbed mentions of climate change, civil rights and health care. The ban was lifted over the weekend.

“My understanding is that because they had inappropriately violated their own social media policies, there was guidance that was put out to the department to act in compliance with the rules that were set forth,” Spicer said.