{"id":1916722,"date":"2023-04-19T12:42:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-the-shadowy-group-that-ran-the-federal-governments-censorship-scheme\/"},"modified":"2023-04-19T12:42:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:42:18","slug":"meet-the-shadowy-group-that-ran-the-federal-governments-censorship-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-the-shadowy-group-that-ran-the-federal-governments-censorship-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Shadowy Group That Ran The Federal Government\u2019s Censorship Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmeet-the-shadowy-group-that-ran-the-federal-governments-censorship-scheme%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1916722&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center used a cutout corporation headed by a former intelligence officer to fund and promote the blacklisting of conservative media outlets and other censorship endeavors, research by The Federalist reveals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When Elon Musk gave a group of independent journalists access to internal Twitter communications, the resulting \u201cTwitter Files\u201d quickly revealed the existence of a Censorship-Industrial Complex that <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520\/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520.84.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">included<\/a> an array of federal agencies colluding with social media companies to censor disfavored speech. One of the many federal players was the State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center (GEC) \u2014 but GEC did much more than cajole tech giants to censor viewpoints the government didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-861809121\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c19d4e3ff035919ec8d0ea0ccd50bc65 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c19d4e3ff035919ec8d0ea0ccd50bc65\"><\/div>\n<p>As The Federalist previously reported, GEC <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/13\/newsguard-claims-not-to-be-government-funded-but-a-750k-grant-suggests-otherwise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">funded<\/a> the development of censorship tools and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/04\/11\/government-is-marketing-censorship-tools-to-big-tech-to-gag-conservatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">used<\/a> \u201cgovernment employees to act as sales reps pitching the censorship products to Big Tech.\u201d Further investigation into its operations now reveals the government\u2019s GEC used one or more for-profit businesses to lead four separate censorship initiatives with contractors at times engaging in \u201cinherently governmental functions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This graphic from GEC provides a simple summary of its Technology Engagement Team (TET) initiatives, but Disinfo Cloud provides the best entry point to understanding GEC\u2019s other activities.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Disinfo Cloud Casts a Big Shadow<\/h2>\n<p>According to GEC\u2019s webpage, Disinfo Cloud is a \u201cplatform that acts as a repository to catalogue an ever-growing list of CPD tools and technologies,\u201d with \u201cCPD\u201d standing for \u201ccountering propaganda and disinformation.\u201d While originally available only to \u201c.mil and .gov\u201d users, access was later opened to the private sector. <\/p>\n<p>Then as part of its \u201cSilicon Valley Engagement\u201d initiative, GEC <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/04\/11\/government-is-marketing-censorship-tools-to-big-tech-to-gag-conservatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pushed<\/a> social media companies to join Disinfo Cloud, which helped users identify technologies for censoring speech. This has huge First Amendment implications because although many details of Disinfo Cloud\u2019s operations and funding remain obscure, it\u2019s clear U.S. tax dollars funded both the platform\u2019s development and maintenance.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-dcca37226f459d0fd4912326f76069b4 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-dcca37226f459d0fd4912326f76069b4\"><\/div>\n<p>A State Department spokesman previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/equality-not-elitism\/disinformation-group-secretly-blacklisting-right-wing-outlets-bankrolled-state-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> that an outside group, Park Advisors, managed Disinfo Cloud, awarding the group approximately $300,000 to manage the platform. Christina Nemr, a former State Department employee who had been a founding member of the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program, <a href=\"https:\/\/myemail.constantcontact.com\/Thank-you-and-farewell--for-now-.html?soid=1134000290001&#038;aid=ixx_30MZGGU\">served<\/a> as the director of Park Advisors and the administrator of Disinfo Cloud.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Park Advisors Overshadowed the GEC<\/h2>\n<p>While Disinfo Cloud was a GEC initiative, it appears Park Advisors and Nemr controlled the platform at DisinfoCloud.com, which has since been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/defeat-disinfo\/\">shuttered<\/a>. Park Advisors has also recently removed the content of its webpage, leaving only the landing page. A still-available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YoeHq5gX0dA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">video<\/a>, however, shows Nemr explaining the repository.<\/p>\n<p>After Disinfo Cloud identified a tool for countering so-called \u201cdisinformation,\u201d Nemr\u2019s team would conduct open-source research to learn everything possible about the tool, including who made it and what technology was involved, and then summarize the research in a one- to three-page report. Next, Disinfo Cloud would contact the tool\u2019s creator, requesting a remote demonstration and seeking more technical details, after which it would compile a 10- to 12-page report on the technology. Disinfo Cloud had reviewed about 200 different technologies, which were added to its repository.<\/p>\n<p>Disinfo Cloud also helped users \u2014 including private social media companies \u2014 identify the best available censorship tools \u201cto counter propaganda and disinformation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5e2d574c8a7a44f26ac2a2f7dca6df8e fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5e2d574c8a7a44f26ac2a2f7dca6df8e\"><\/div>\n<p>Publicly available information indicates Park Advisors and Nemr did much more than create and manage Disinfo Cloud. Its subscribers also received a weekly \u201cDisinfo Digest,\u201d which Nemr <a href=\"https:\/\/myemail.constantcontact.com\/Thank-you-and-farewell--for-now-.html?soid=1134000290001&#038;aid=ixx_30MZGGU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched<\/a> in December 2020 to inform users \u201cof the latest news, events, funding opportunities, and other updates related to disinformation, including from the tech vendors featured on Disinfo Cloud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Along with promoting its own platform, Disinfo Cloud\u2019s Twitter account also promoted Disinfo Digest and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/upcoming-events-technology-engagement-division\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tech Demo Series<\/a>. The account also amplified the marketing of private censorship tools and companies, such as the unreliable media-ratings organizations Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Disinfo Cloud Plugs Tech Demo Series<\/h2>\n<p>The aforementioned government-promoted Tech Demo Series purported to feature \u201cpromising technologies to employ against the problems of propaganda and disinformation.\u201d But the fact that Disinfo Cloud highlighted the Tech Demo Series suggests the infomercial-like demonstrations of censorship technology were open to non-governmental groups, such as Big Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>However, the GEC webpage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/programs-technology-engagement-division\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> the audience for these virtual demos \u201cis composed of U.S. government counterparts and foreign partners,\u201d leaving unclear whether the Tech Demo Series marketed censorship technology to outsiders and, if so, how. It is also unclear whether Disinfo Cloud or GEC hosted the Tech Demo Series.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Park Advisors Controlled GEC\u2019s Testbed<\/h2>\n<p>While Disinfo Cloud\u2019s role in the Tech Demo Series is unclear, GEC\u2019s \u201cTestbed\u201d operated from Disinfo Cloud, and Park Advisors also managed that government initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to GEC\u2019s webpage, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/programs-technology-engagement-division\/\">Testbed<\/a>\u201d \u201ctests specific tools or technologies against a submitted proposal,\u201d over the course of six to eight weeks to see how successful the tools are in countering supposed propaganda in \u201creal operational\u201d situations. While GEC\u2019s current descriptor of \u201cTestbed\u201d says the State Department organization \u201csolicits real challenges of the U.S. government (USG) to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation,\u201d when Park Advisors ran Disinfo Cloud and Testbed, the GEC webpage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/defeat-disinfo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> that the two initiatives were used by \u201cacademia, private sector, and tech vendors,\u201d and directed users to ask Disinfo Cloud for assistance in drafting \u201ca test proposal for a tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of the 200-some technologies on Disinfo Cloud, only some piloted on Testbed. But according to Nemr, GEC paid vendors $25,000 to complete the six- to eight-week assessment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Park Advisors Organized GEC Challenges<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to managing Disinfo Cloud and the GEC Testbed, Park Advisors was also involved in GEC\u2019s \u201cTech Challenges.\u201d Nemr, the Park Advisors director, even boasted of <a href=\"https:\/\/myemail.constantcontact.com\/Thank-you-and-farewell--for-now-.html?soid=1134000290001&#038;aid=ixx_30MZGGU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">organizing<\/a> three international Tech Challenges (in Asia, Africa, and Europe). The GEC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/upcoming-events-technology-engagement-division\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">webpage<\/a> also <a href=\"https:\/\/2017-2021.state.gov\/about-us-technology-engagement-team\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">credited<\/a> Park Advisors and Disinfo Cloud with collaborating with the State Department for the U.S.-Africa, U.S.-Paris, and U.S.-Taiwan Tech Challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Nemr <a href=\"https:\/\/myemail.constantcontact.com\/Thank-you-and-farewell--for-now-.html?soid=1134000290001&#038;aid=ixx_30MZGGU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stressed<\/a> that eight awards were granted. At least two of the monetary awards went to organizations targeting conservatives \u2014 including news outlets \u2014 for censorship, namely the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/equality-not-elitism\/disinformation-group-secretly-blacklisting-right-wing-outlets-bankrolled-state-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Global Disinformation Index<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/02\/09\/state-department-disinformation-conservative-news-site\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Institute of Strategic Dialogue<\/a>.\u00a0Despite purporting to fund foreign-based tech experts \u201cto implement a tool, locally, to address misinformation and disinformation challenges in the region,\u201d these U.S.-Paris Challenge awardees reached squarely into the American marketplace of speech.<\/p>\n<p>The Global Disinformation Index (GDI) purports to assess the \u201cdisinformation risk\u201d of media outlets and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.disinformationindex.org\/country-studies\/2022-12-16-disinformation-risk-assessment-the-online-news-market-in-the-united-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declares<\/a> conservative media, including The Federalist, as the \u201cTen Riskiest Online News Outlets.\u201d In contrast, the supposedly \u201cTen Lowest-Risk Online News Outlets\u201d consist of a who\u2019s who of left-wing legacy outlets, including those that regularly botched big political stories, such as the Russia-collusion hoax and the Hunter Biden laptop story.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the 2021 U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge, GDI\u2019s founders explained the goal of the risk-rating technology: to disrupt the funding of so-called disinformation by steering away \u201cad dollars.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Danny Rogers, the American partner in the initiative, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/u-s-paris-tech-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stressed<\/a> in the team\u2019s presentation that \u201cover a dozen ad-tech companies,\u201d covering \u201c20 different media markets,\u201d used GDI\u2019s technology. That technology succeeded in \u201ccutting the number of ad options\u201d by over half, \u201credirecting millions of dollars away from disinformation peddlers toward quality journalism,\u201d Rogers boasted.<\/p>\n<p>Significantly, after learning GEC had selected the Global Disinformation Index as one of the winners of the U.S.-Paris Challenge, Rogers\u2019 U.K. partner, Clare Melford, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/u-s-paris-tech-challenge\/\">explained<\/a> that the award, in addition to allowing GDI to increase its \u201clanguage coverage capability,\u201d would also allow GDI to expand its risk assessments into video news and bolster the infrastructure \u201cunderpinning all of the GDI\u2019s activities \u2026 so that the ad tech base can offer advertisers the chance to choose which their ads support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, our government paid for the infrastructure of GDI\u2019s ratings system that resulted in conservative news outlets being blacklisted \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/u-s-paris-tech-challenge\/\">$100,000<\/a>\u00a0worth of U.S. tax dollars in total, funneled by the GEC to the Global Disinformation Index through Park Advisors.<\/p>\n<p>GEC also used Park Advisors to pay a second winner of the U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge, the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, which pitched its \u201cBeam\u201d technology that purports \u201cto detect, track &#038; measure online manipulation, disinformation, and harassment.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeam,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/carljackmiller\/status\/1443877291017359389\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Institute of Strategic Dialogue<\/a>, had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/u-s-paris-tech-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">already<\/a> been \u201cused by 300 civil society groups in the U.S. around the elections.\u201d But the tech challenge prize, the organization <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/u-s-paris-tech-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a>, would allow it to build \u201ca new integration to study state-backed manipulation of Wikipedia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/02\/13\/state-department-think-tank-disinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirmed<\/a> it funded, through Disinfo Cloud, the Institute of Strategic Dialogue\u2019s research of Russian disinformation tactics against Wikipedia. But that research applied more to Americans than those in Europe or Asia, as the study analyzed \u201cthe English-language Wikipedia page for the Russo-Ukrainian war\u201d \u2014 another apparent contravention of the foreign-focused purpose of the U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, like the GDI, also has an <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/02\/13\/state-department-think-tank-disinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">anti-conservative bias<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GEC Sponsors U.S.-Based Challenge<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the international tech challenges, the GEC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsin.mil\/events\/disinfo-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sponsored<\/a> the \u201cCountering COVID19 Disinformation Challenge,\u201d run by the Department of Defense\u2019s National Security Innovation Network. Winners of that challenge received $25,000 to pilot their technology on GEC\u2019s Testbed, \u201chosted by Disinfo Cloud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One of the winners of this challenge was the irresponsible, reliability-ratings company NewsGuard. Like GDI, NewsGuard also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/14\/why-newsguard-is-just-as-bad-as-the-pro-censorship-global-disinformation-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">champions<\/a> leftist outlets that peddled the Russia-collusion hoax and wrongly framed the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation, while branding conservative outlets such as The Federalist as unreliable.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Park Advisors\u2019 Funding Is Shadowy<\/h2>\n<p>That GEC used Disinfo Cloud as a pass-through to award $100,000 to the Global Disinformation Index, an unspecified amount to the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, and $25,000 to NewsGuard and other winners of the Covid challenge makes no obvious sense \u2014 unless the State Department sought to avoid a public connection to the funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But even now knowing the GEC funded these censorship endeavors through Disinfo Cloud helps little because the State Department\u2019s funding of that platform is hazy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While a State Department spokesman said GEC had awarded Park Advisors approximately $300,000 in 2018 to manage Disinfo Cloud, a search of government contracts and grants fails to show either <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/search\/?hash=22af8194ef4abe71a6be6c36c4d260ab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Park Advisors<\/a> or the related entity <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/search\/?hash=3434f0d7ecfae338db8f15e8e7b599c5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Park Capital Investment Group<\/a> receiving any such award. The only documented payment to either entity appears in 2020 and shows a Covid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/award\/ASST_NON_5086318210_7300\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">loan<\/a> of nearly $40,000 to Park Capital Investment Group.<\/p>\n<p>Adding further mystery to the funding of Park Advisors \u2014 aka Park Capital Investment Group \u2014 is the inspector general\u2019s audit of GEC, which included a review of a nearly $3 million award to Park Capital Investment Group. But that award also does not appear at USASpending.gov. In fact, a search by award numbers also fails to show GEC\u2019s awards to Democracy Council of California or CNA Corporation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The State Department ignored The Federalist\u2019s request for clarification of the funding of Park Advisors. The Federalist\u2019s efforts to speak with the founders and original managing partner of Park Advisors and Park Capital Investment Group also proved unsuccessful. Nemr \u2014 who has since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/christina-nemr-33213015\/\">founded<\/a> the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.becera.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Becera<\/a>, which has already scored nearly a million dollars from the State Department as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/search\/?hash=3957586233c127076e037bea8a4b1da6\">sub-awardee<\/a> \u2014 also did not respond to multiple inquiries.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GEC Let Contractors Run Censorship<\/h2>\n<p>While the lack of transparency related to the millions of federal grants awarded by GEC proves troubling, the larger concern is what GEC paid Park Advisors and presumably other contractors to do: fund and coordinate the censorship of Americans\u2019 speech and the blacklisting of our supposedly free press.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Further exacerbating the scandal are audits from the Office of Inspector General that reveal GEC lacked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/uploads\/report\/report_pdf_file\/aud-mero-20-26_7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">oversight<\/a> of contractors and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stateoig.gov\/uploads\/report\/report_pdf_file\/isp-i-22-15.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had insufficient<\/a> internal controls \u201cto ensure contractors did not perform inherently governmental functions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the State Department doesn\u2019t consider funding the development of censorship tools and marketing them to silence disfavored speakers any problem at all.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bd0aff8fea71f7efc5fec7eefb412dee fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bd0aff8fea71f7efc5fec7eefb412dee\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.     Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time.     As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/big-tech\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Big Tech<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/censorship\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">censorship<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/censorship-complex\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">censorship complex<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/disinfo-cloud\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Disinfo Cloud<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/disinformation\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">disinformation<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/first-amendment\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">First Amendment<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/free-speech\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">free speech<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/global-disinformation-index\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Global Disinformation Index<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/global-engagement-center\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Global Engagement Center<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/media-bias\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">media bias<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/newsguard\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">NewsGuard<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/park-advisors\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Park Advisors<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/propaganda\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">propaganda<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/social-media\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">social media<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/state-department\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">State Department<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/twitter-files\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Twitter Files<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center used a cutout corporation headed by a former intelligence officer to fund and promote the blacklisting of conservative media outlets and other censorship endeavors, research by The Federalist reveals.\u00a0 When Elon Musk gave a group of independent journalists access to internal Twitter communications, the resulting \u201cTwitter Files\u201d quickly revealed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1916723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[6371,3974,5525,3767,8020,18253],"class_list":["post-1916722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-censorship","tag-federal","tag-governments","tag-meet","tag-scheme","tag-shadowy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1916723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}