In the wake of the nationwide controversy over censorship, House Republicans are taking a solid stand. They’re pulling back the curtain on the Censorship Industrial Complex that, unbeknownst to many, has been operating on the American taxpayer’s dime.
Washington Examiner recently exposed that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been called to task by the House Small Business Committee. The Committee has demanded the man himself appear before them at the end of June. But what are they after? The details of funding distribution by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.
The Committee has openly requested for a list of documents and communications, all related to the distribution of monetary resources. These resources, assigned to different organizations via grants, awards, or cooperative agreements, have caught the Committee’s attention. The timeline requested ranges from 2018 to the present.
The likes of NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index or GDI, lay in the crosshairs. Both organizations, scrutinized for their reputation as heavy-handed internet arbiters, have been pulled up for questionable practices. A House Judiciary investigation didn’t hesitate to call out GDI for its controversial ‘hate groups’ blacklist, apparently biased against conservative and faith-based organizations.
In addition to information about the organizations, the Committee has requested details on the Global Engagement Center’s now-defunct Disinfo Cloud. This was a technology used to enable censorship indirectly, a testing ground of sorts for censoring technologies. The document required includes details pertaining to every one of the 366 programs utilized in the Disinfo Cloud. Additionally, the process of how these programs were applied for and approved has also been requested.
The Committee has left no stone unturned in their bid for transparency, demanding future plans around successors to the Disinfo Cloud platform. The latter was put out of operation in 2022.
In the eye of the storm is the Global Engagement Center, implicated for its apparent role in government censorship. The New Civil Liberties Alliance recently put forth a plea for a preliminary injunction in February. The plea requests the State Department stop funding censorship operations like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index.
NewsGuard, now also under Congressional investigation, is under fire due to its ties to the federal government. Furthermore, the Media Research Center (MRC) has found NewsGuard to rate left-leaning outlets higher by an average of 25 points.
No one would argue that conservatives are under attack. That’s why it’s more important than ever to demand that Big Tech be held accountable. We need platforms that honor the First Amendment, offering transparency and no bias. And if you’ve been censored, don’t stay silent. Reach out and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
In the fight against censorship, nothing is more important than working towards a future where our voices can all be heard. Together, we can make it happen.
