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June 17, 2024 - 8:00pm
House Republicans have subpoenaed the Global Engagement Center’s records following reports that the State Department-funded entity was funnelling government money into global censorship projects, the Washington Examiner reported.
The GEC helped fund the Global Disinformation Index, a British ratings agency which purports to fight disinformation by steering advertising revenue away from offending websites through an opaque ratings system. In reality, the GDI targets disfavoured media outlets, often conservative, and starves them of revenue by warning advertisers that the sites are toxic to brands. The GDI attributed UnHerd’s blacklisting to the publication of the work of Kathleen Stock, a “gender-critical feminist”.
The subpoena demands Secretary of State Antony Blinken turn over a list of the GEC’s grant recipients since 2019, along with communications related to GEC grants and agreements with a list of recipients including Newsguard and other censorship organisations.
The GDI also targeted conservative outlets in the US including the Daily Wire and the Federalist, which are currently suing the State Department for allegedly censoring their reporting in violation of the First Amendment. The lawsuit argues that the GEC is violating its government mandate to only address foreign propaganda and misinformation by funding organisations that throttle American reporting.
The subpoena is the latest in the GOP’s push to shut down the State Department’s censorship activities. Republicans are also attempting to block government funding for the GEC by refusing to reauthorise it in the federal budget, and a judge recently allowed the case to move forward in a written opinion emphasising the free speech implications of the case.
The anti-disinformation industry is now facing a funding problem, as several supporters of the GDI were removed from its website this spring following a wave of reports on their censorship of journalism. The US State Department-funded Disinformation Cloud was taken out of the GDI’s public-facing list of sponsors, as was the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and one non-governmental sponsor. The UK government recently confirmed it would no longer fund the GDI, and the push from the US to cut off funding for such projects is well underway.
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SubscribeGood news.
Oh, they want to close Goebbels’ office
Good. About time these malign ideological censorship organisations were shut down. They have no place in any free democracy but are tools of totalitarianism.
Unfortunately we can expect a lot more of this kind of subversion-by-NGO when Labour take power. It’s going to be a bonanza for every kind of curtain-twitching busybody.
Call Mr naive, but I am amazed that UK “Conservative” government funds organisation which clearly supports far left causes.
At least that support makes sense to Biden administration.
You think the Biden administration is “far left” do you? Any ideas on what is meant by “Left” “Centre left” “Centrist” “Centre right” – I’m just curious.. words matter.
Storm their inner sanctums of power and purge them!
I wonder if the BBC was one of the recipients of censorship largesse . They have perfected the art of providing the “right” kind of disinformation.
Defund the dreadful BBC!
Bad as it is, the BBC does not deserve to be defunded.. hopefully it can be reformed instead? ..small r btw, I don’t mean Reform! Aargh I’m going to be sick!
I would call it the “left” kind of disinformation.
Stop funding all the institutions which are enemies of Western countries. Start with the UN.
Sanity could arrive in the US on this issue if our Congress passed a law requiring that all federal agencies publish a searchable database including the name, amount given, and objective sought by funding a NGO. Sometimes sunshine will dry a swamp.
This is good news indeed. Keep us informed of progress!