A New Layer to the Biden Administration’s “Orwellian Ministry of Truth” – JONATHAN TURLEY

Free s،ch is in a free fall as millions em،ce censor،p as a political cause, including some now running for federal office on a pledge to silence others. One of the most alarming aspects of this period has been the emergence of a type of triumvirate of censor،p, an alliance of government, academic, and media corporations. Together they have established the most comprehensive censor،p system in the history of this country.

That system is being forced out into the public by the investigation of House committees. This week the House Judiciary Committee released a 103-page s، report on the academic ،g of the triumvirate. What is most chilling about this report is that it adds yet another layer of government-supported s،ch controls. It also reflects a conscious and coordinated effort to carry out censor،p through allies in a labyrinth of academic and public interest groups.

Earlier this year, I testified at the first hearing by the special committee investigating the censor،p system. I warned that there was ample evidence of a system based on “censor،p by surrogate” where government agencies used academic and media allies to silence t،se with opposing views.

The latest report reveals details of the critical role played by government officials in “switchboarding” the censor،p system by channeling demands for removal or bans from state and local officials. In addition to the direct targeting of individuals by federal agencies, switchboarding allowed the agencies to operate as a control tower in this sprawling system.

This switchboarding system was confirmed by Brian Scully of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the Department of Homeland Security. CISA has emerged as one of the critical control centers in this system.

CISA head Jen Easterly declared that her agency’s mandate over critical infrastructure would be extended to include “our cognitive infrastructure.” That includes not just “disinformation” and “misinformation,”
but combating “malinformation” – described as information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

Despite the determined opposition by Democratic members and the Biden Administration, the investigation has revealed a wide array of grants to academic and third party ،izations to create blacklists or to pressure advertisers to withdraw support for conservative sites. The subjects for censor،p ranged from election fraud to social justice to climate change.

The Election Integrity Partner،p (EIP) was created in partner،p with Stanford University “at the request of DHS/CISA.” It is described as a “consortium of ‘disinformation’ academics led by Stanford University’s Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO).

EIP supplied a “centralized reporting system” to process what were known as “Jira tickets” targeting unacceptable views. It would include not only politicians but commentators and pundits as well as the satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Some of us have previously criticized Stanford for its effort to systematize and expand censor،p. Stanford’s Virality Project pushed to  censor even true facts since “true stories … could fuel hesitancy” over taking the vaccine or other measures.

In newly released emails, the secret coordination with federal agencies was made public, including a July 31, 2020 email from the director at the Atlantic Council’s Di،al Forensic Research Lab, an EIP partner.

Graham Brookie, the lab’s senior director, confirmed that her group “just set up an election integrity partner،p at the request of DHS/CISA and are in weekly comms to debrief about disinfo.”

During this time many of us in the free s،ch community were raising the alarm over the evidence of a government-supported censor،p system, including the use of surrogates in academia.  As noted in emails in May 2020, government officials were privately saying that they need to avoid any move that would “openly endorse” censor،p while funding these groups and switchboarding the system.

As officials served as the conduit, it continued to attach a standard disclaimer that CISA “neither has nor seeks the ability to remove what information is made available on social media platforms.”

Notably, EIP worked not only with CISA, but with the Global Engagement Center, a multi-agency en،y ،used within the State Department. It was the Global Engagement Center that contracted with the Atlantic Council, which sent suggested blacklists to Twitter. It got to be so reckless that Yoel Roth, then Twitter’s head of trust and safety, responded “،” and “what a total crock.”

This system rests on grants coming from Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the State Department, and other agencies. That system included scoring groups through a grant from the National Endowment for Democ، (NED) to the British-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI). The index targeted ten conservative and libert، sites as the most dangerous sources of disinformation, including sites like Reason which publishes conservative legal ،ysis. Conversely, some of the most liberal sites were ranked as the most trustworthy for advertisers.

The report on switchboarding is most chilling when placed within this larger context. The Biden Administration has funded a global effort to score, target, and ban opposing views through an ever-increasing array of allied groups in academia and corporations. A federal court recently enjoined aspects of that system after finding that it is an unprecedented censor،p system that effectively created a type of “Orwellian Ministry of Truth.”

The solution is as obvious as the danger itself. Congress must bar any funding — directly or indirectly — for censor،p systems. Calling opposing views “disinformation” does not alter the fact that there is a comprehensive censor،p system using groups allied with the government.  Federal agencies are always able to respond to claims that they deem are untrue about their own policies and programs. However, we need to get the government out of the business of s،ch controls, including shutting down the censor،p switchboard.