{"id":1981307,"date":"2023-07-24T13:01:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T17:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-state-department-slammed-for-blowing-disinformation-documents-deadline-no-excuse\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T13:03:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T17:03:31","slug":"biden-state-department-slammed-for-blowing-disinformation-documents-deadline-no-excuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-state-department-slammed-for-blowing-disinformation-documents-deadline-no-excuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden State Department criticized for missing &#8216;disinformation&#8217; documents deadline: &#8216;Unacceptable&#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\">20<\/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%2Fbiden-state-department-slammed-for-blowing-disinformation-documents-deadline-no-excuse%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=1981307&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>House\u200d Republicans Demand Unredacted Grant Records to Expose\u200d Government\u2063 Funding of \u2064Online Speech Targeting Conservatives<\/h2>\n<p>House\u200d Republicans are intensifying their efforts to obtain &#8220;unredacted&#8221; grant \u2063records from the Biden administration,\u200b dating back to 2019. Their goal\u2062 is to shed light\u200d on the \u200cgovernment&#8217;s funding of groups that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-state-department-slammed-for-blowing-disinformation-documents-deadline-no-excuse\/\" title=\"Biden State Department criticized for missing 'disinformation' documents deadline: 'Unacceptable'\">specifically target conservative speech online<\/a>. Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) of the Small \u2064Business Committee and Chairwoman Beth Van Duyne (R-TX)\u200d of its Oversight\u2064 Subcommittee initially requested these records in June from the\u200b State Department&#8217;s Global Engagement Center (GEC). The GEC, \u200cwhich granted $100,000 in 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index, has failed to fulfill the request within the\u2063 given timeframe.\u200c As a result, Williams and Van Duyne are reiterating their demand and emphasizing that\u200b the government has \u200d&#8221;no excuse&#8221; for withholding these documents.<\/p>\n<h3>Republicans Seek Transparency on Global Engagement Center Funding<\/h3>\n<p>In their letter to GEC\u200b special envoy and coordinator \u200cJames P. Rubin, the \u200dRepublicans stated, &#8220;This committee \u200bwishes to understand the use of any Global\u2062 Engagement Center funding of entities whose actions have resulted in\u200b small businesses&#8217; loss of economic\u200d opportunities\u200d from the freedom of engaging in uncensored speech on online platforms.&#8221; The lawmakers had previously set\u2064 a June 21 deadline for the records, but the GEC has failed to \u2062provide an update on \u2064the \u2064status of the response. The initial letter referenced several Washington Examiner stories that highlighted how the Global Disinformation Index has\u200b covertly pressured advertisers\u2064 to defund conservative\u2062 websites. Additionally, \u200dthe GDI received approximately \u2064$860,000 between\u2063 2020 and 2022\u2062 from the National Endowment for Democracy.<\/p>\n<h3>Continued Efforts to Investigate Government Ties to Online \u200cSpeech\u200b Suppression<\/h3>\n<p>This recent request by congressional Republicans is part of their ongoing investigation into the federal government&#8217;s connections to entities \u2062that aim to suppress speech online. In June, a U.S. appeals court \u2064temporarily blocked a lower court&#8217;s preliminary\u200c injunction that restricted the\u200b Biden administration from contacting social media \u200dcompanies to flag\u2063 instances\u200d of alleged &#8220;misinformation.&#8221; The\u2063 GOP has expressed\u2063 concerns about censorship,\u200c particularly after documents \u200crelated\u200d to\u2063 the\u200d Freedom of Information Act and the lawsuit Missouri v. Biden revealed federal officials&#8217; involvement in urging platforms like Twitter to remove posts on\u200c topics such as COVID-19.<\/p>\n<h3>Scrutiny \u200bof the Global Engagement \u200dCenter<\/h3>\n<p>The GEC has faced multiple \u2063congressional investigations this year due to \u2064its associations with &#8220;disinformation&#8221; and &#8220;misinformation&#8221; tracking. Its reauthorization in 2024\u2064 is currently\u2062 under\u2064 consideration by the House\u200c Foreign Affairs Committee,\u2062 which is leaning towards not renewing it due to the center&#8217;s failure \u2064to fulfill its\u2062 duties. Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and other Republicans on the\u200d committee initiated these investigations following Washington Examiner reports\u200b on the Global Disinformation Index. In September 2022, the\u200d State Department&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inspector-general-debunks-claims-made-by-biden-harris-left-wing-media-against-trump\/\" title=\"Inspector General Debunks Claims Made By Biden, Harris, Left-Wing Media Against Trump\">inspector general released<\/a> a report criticizing the GEC for its inadequate vetting of \u2063how foreign entities\u2062 used taxpayer\u2062 dollars and its insufficient efforts \u200bto counter foreign threats.<\/p>\n<h3>Implications for Businesses and\u2062 the\u2063 First Amendment<\/h3>\n<p>The Small Business Committee argues that the GEC&#8217;s connections \u200dto &#8220;disinformation&#8221; have\u200c resulted in businesses losing revenue and potentially infringe on First Amendment rights. In late May, the State Department expressed\u200d its\u2062 support for the GEC when questioned by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). However, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed James Rubin, the GEC&#8217;s representative, in April over allegations \u2064of coordination with Big Tech and censorship of opposing \u200cviews. Meanwhile, \u200dHouse Foreign \u200dAffairs Committee Republicans are seeking access to a range of records from the \u2064State Department regarding the GEC&#8217;s grants related to disinformation tracking in\u200c recent years.<\/p>\n<p>The Republicans concluded their letter by emphasizing \u200cthe timeliness and importance of their request for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-hhs-spends-500k-fighting-covid-19-social-media-disinformation-for-hispanics\/\" title=\"Biden's HHS fights COVID-19 'disinformation' on Hispanic social media with 0K.\">unredacted grant records<\/a> from\u200b the Global Engagement Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biden administration faces renewed demand from House Republicans to disclose &#8220;unredacted&#8221; grant records dating back to 2019. The request aims to expose government funding of organizations that target conservative online speech. Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) of the Small Business Committee are leading the charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1981308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1981307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"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\/1981307","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1981307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1981308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1981307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1981307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1981307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}