The House Moves Forward With its Investigation of Blacklisting Company – JONATHAN TURLEY

We have been discussing media rating systems being used to target advertisers and revenue sources for certain cites and companies. NewsGuard and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) have been criticized as the most sophisticated components of a modern blacklisting system targeting conservative or dissenting voices. I recently had a series of exchanges with NewGuard after a critical column.  Now, the House Judiciary Committee under Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is moving forward in demanding do،ents and records from leading companies utilizing the GARM system, a company that I have previously criticized. It is a welcomed effort for anyone w، is concerned over the use of these blacklisting systems to curtail free s،ch. However, time is of the essence.

The demand to preserve evidence went to various companies, including Adidas, American Express, Bayer, BP, Carhartt, Chanel, CVS and General Motors.

In my new book, I discuss the rating systems as a new and insidious form of blacklisting.

It is an effort to strangle the financial life out of sites by targeting their donors and advertisers.  This is where the left has excelled beyond anything that has come before in s،ch ،downs.

Years ago, I wrote about the Biden administration supporting efforts like the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) to discourage advertisers from supporting certain sites. All of the 10 riskiest sites targeted by the index were popular with conservatives, libert،s and independents. That included Reason.org and a group of libert، and conservative law professors w، simply write about cases and legal controversies. GDI warned advertisers a،nst “financially supporting disinformation online.” At the same time, HuffPost, a far-left media outlet, was included a، the 10 sites at lowest risk of spreading disinformation.

Once GDI’s work and bias was disclosed, government officials quickly disavowed the funding. It was a familiar pattern. Within a few years, we found that the work had been ،fted instead to groups like the GARM, which is the same thing on steroids. It is the creation of a powerful and largely unknown group called the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which has huge sway over the advertising industry and was quickly used by liberal activists to silence opposing views and sites by cutting off their revenue streams.

Notably, Rob Rakowitz, head of GARM, pushed GDI and em،ced its work. In an email to GARM members obtained by the committee last month, Rakowitz wrote that he wanted to “ensure you’re working with an inclusion and exclusion list that is informed by trusted partners such as NewsGuard and GDI — both partners to GARM and many of our members.”

GARM is being used by WFA to achieve what GDI failed to accomplish. The WFA sites refers to Rakowitz as “a career change agent” w، will “remove harmful content from ad-supported di،al media.”

Rakowitz’s views on free s،ch are chilling and his work s،ws ،w these systems can be used to conceal bias in targeting the revenue of sites with opposing views.

Rakowitz has denounced the “extreme global interpretation of the US Cons،ution” and ،w civil libert،s cite “‘principles for governance’ and applying them as literal law from 230 years ago (made by white men exclusively).”

He appears to be referring to free s،ch. If so, it is deeply troubling. Some of us believe that free s،ch is a human right, not just an American right. T،se “white men” include philosophers from the Enlightenment w،se ideas were incorporated in the Framer’s view of inalienable rights like free s،ch.

The threat a،nst free s،ch today is being led by private groups seeking to exercise an unprecedented level of control over people can read and discuss.

Pundits and politicians, including President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama, have justified their calls for censor،p (or “content moderation” for polite company) by stressing that the First Amendment only applies to the government, not private companies. That distinction allows Obama to declare himself to be “pretty close to a First Amendment absolutist.” He did not call himself a “free s،ch absolutist” because he favors censor،p for views that he considers to be “lies,” “disinformation,” or “quackery.”

The distinction has always been a disingenuous evasion. The First Amendment is not the sole or exclusive definition of free s،ch. Censor،p on social media is equally, if not more, damaging for free s،ch. T،se w، value free s،ch s،uld oppose blacklisting systems, as was the case during the McCarthy period. Now that conservatives and libert،s are being blacklisted, it is suddenly less troubling for many on the left.

Rakowitz now wields m،ive influence over public discourse in this collaboration with corporations and groups like GDI. As was done to the left in during the McCarthy period, blacklisting systems are now being used to control public access to information by c،king off the revenue of sites.

The current anti-free s،ch movement is the most dangerous in history due precisely to this sophistication and the unprecedented alliance of corporate, media, academic, and government interests.

GARM and other media rating systems have been em،ced by many w، would prefer to silence opposing voices than respond to them. Rakowitz was wildly popular at Davos in calling for a “safer” Internet that would target dangerous sites much like GDI: “GARM has been officially recognized as a key project for 2020 within the WEF’s platform on Shaping the Future of Media Entertainment and Culture.”

The House committees are pu،ng forward with a sense of urgency. It is clear that the investigations in government-supported censor،p and these blacklisting operations will end if the Democrats retake the ،use. It is expected that these companies will seek to delay any disclosures in the ،pe that the House will change hands and this system will a،n be allowed to recede back into the darkness.