{"id":1927500,"date":"2023-05-09T18:41:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T22:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/government-funded-censors-violated-congresss-mandate-to-target-only-foreign-disinformation\/"},"modified":"2023-05-09T18:49:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T22:49:04","slug":"government-funded-censors-violated-congresss-mandate-to-target-only-foreign-disinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/government-funded-censors-violated-congresss-mandate-to-target-only-foreign-disinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov&#8217;t censors funded by Congress broke rules by targeting domestic &#8216;disinformation&#8217;."},"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%2Fgovernment-funded-censors-violated-congresss-mandate-to-target-only-foreign-disinformation%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=1927500&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--><h2>The State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center Violated Congressional Mandate<\/h2>\n<p>The State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center (GEC) colluded with tech giants and nongovernmental organizations to silence disfavored speech during the 2020 election cycle. However, an investigation by The Federalist now indicates that GEC violated its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-waived-congressional-mandate-for-report-on-afghanistan-withdrawal-risks\/\" title=\"Biden Waived Congressional Mandate for Report on Afghanistan Withdrawal Risks\">congressional mandate<\/a> by financing activities and organizations that targeted the speech of Americans.<\/p>\n<h3>GEC\u2019s Creation and Mission Creep<\/h3>\n<p>The Global Engagement Center is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/government-funded-censors-violated-congresss-mandate-to-target-only-foreign-disinformation\/\" title=\"Gov't censors funded by Congress broke rules by targeting domestic 'disinformation'.\">multi-agency center housed<\/a> in the State Department that originated in 2011 as the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC). In 2016, the Obama administration issued a second executive order, morphing the CSCC into the GEC. However, when Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, the center\u2019s purpose was expanded beyond its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-announces-new-actions-and-funding-to-combat-anti-asian-violence-xenophobia-and-bias\/\" title=\"Biden Admin Announces New Actions And Funding To Combat \u2018Anti-Asian Violence, Xenophobia And Bias\u2019\">original mandate<\/a> of countering the influence of international terrorists such as the Islamic State, al-Qaida, and other foreign extremists.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 2017 NDAA directed the GEC to \u201ccoordinate efforts of the Federal Government\u201d to counter foreign state and foreign nonstate \u201cpropaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining United States national security interests.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The 2019 NDAA then further expanded the GEC\u2019s mission, authorizing it to counter foreign \u201cpropaganda and disinformation\u201d that undermines not only the United States\u2019 national security interests but also the \u201cpolicies, security, or stability\u201d of the U.S. and our allies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While Congress dramatically expanded the breadth of the GEC\u2019s mission, its purpose still remained limited to combatting \u201cforeign\u201d disinformation.<\/p>\n<h3>GEC Violated Mandate Big Time<\/h3>\n<p>Open-source material reviewed by The Federalist establishes that GEC exceeded its statutorily defined purpose by seeking to counter supposed domestic \u201cmisinformation\u201d and \u201cdisinformation.\u201d Likewise, it illegally used funds appropriated to counter \u201cforeign propaganda and misinformation\u201d for other purposes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The \u201cTwitter Files\u201d revealed GEC sought to censor Americans\u2019 speech.<\/li>\n<li>It endeavored to censor foreign speech that did not fall within the statutory categories of \u201cpropaganda\u201d or \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>GEC created, ran, and funded censorship initiatives that targeted both domestic and foreign speech.<\/li>\n<li>GEC\u2019s funding of technology and organizations that censor domestic speech represents a fourth way the center exceeded its statutorily defined authority.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The GEC-sponsored U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge provides a clear example of a monetary award funding an organization that targets the American marketplace of speech \u2014 including news outlets \u2014 for censorship, namely the Global Disinformation Index.<\/p>\n<p>So to the tune of some $100,000 in U.S. taxpayer funds \u2014 the prize awarded the GDI \u2014 the Global Engagement Center helped \u201cbolster\u201d the infrastructure of GDI\u2019s ratings system that resulted in American conservative news outlets being blacklisted, notwithstanding the congressional directive that funding be limited to combating foreign propaganda and disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cTwitter Files\u201d and many GEC-funded initiatives that target both domestic and foreign speech tell a very different story.<\/p>\n<p><em>Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-facts-on-trumps-lawsuit-against-hillary-clinton-the-dnc-and-more\/\" title=\"The Facts on Trump\u2019s Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and More\">senior legal correspondent<\/a>. 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgetown-student-bar-association-asks-students-to-list-pronouns-in-solidarity-with-transgender-peers\/\" title=\"Georgetown Student Bar Association Asks Students to List Pronouns \u2018In Solidarity\u2019 with Transgender Peers\">law school\u2019<\/a>s highest honor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center (GEC) served as one cornerstone of the Censorship-Industrial Complex, colluding with nongovernmental organizations and tech giants to silence disfavored speech during the 2020 election cycle. An investigation by The Federalist now indicates GEC violated its congressional mandate by financing activities and organizations that targeted the speech of Americans. GEC\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1927501,"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":[9899,10060,6041,4402,6436,9826,4797,3807,6896],"class_list":["post-1927500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-disinformation","tag-broke","tag-censors","tag-congress","tag-domestic","tag-funded","tag-govt","tag-rules","tag-targeting"],"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\/1927500","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=1927500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1927501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}