Kash Patel directed FBI staff to target social media critics, records show

FOIA records released as part of a government review of materials related to Jeffrey Epstein appear to show FBI Director Kash Patel directing staff to target social media critics.

In a text exchange from February 5 between Patel and Ben Williamson, the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, Patel instructed his team to identify accounts criticizing him and respond to them by highlighting the bureau’s accomplishments. Patel specifically pushed to engage with an account on X (formerly Twitter) that had mocked him.

Williamson characterized the account as a bot and warned Patel that responding to the user would ‘look bad on you.’ Additionally, Williamson corrected Patel’s assessment of the engagement, noting that while the post had 277,000 views, it had only received approximately 400 responses. Patel reportedly pushed back, arguing that the reach of the posts represented genuine attention rather than bot activity.