{"id":2117573,"date":"2023-12-06T14:35:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-state-department-censorship-tool-under-spotlight-in-new-conservative-media-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2023-12-06T14:41:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:41:52","slug":"ex-state-department-censorship-tool-under-spotlight-in-new-conservative-media-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-state-department-censorship-tool-under-spotlight-in-new-conservative-media-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservative media lawsuit highlights former State Department &#8216;censorship&#8217; tool"},"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\">18<\/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%2Fex-state-department-censorship-tool-under-spotlight-in-new-conservative-media-lawsuit%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=2117573&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>State Department Faces Lawsuit from Conservative Media Over Funding &#8216;Censorship Scheme&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>A\u2063 &#8220;censorship&#8221; tool once\u200d housed under the State Department is the major focus \u200cof\u2063 a new lawsuit accusing the United States government of suppressing \u2062conservative voices.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;George Orwell, call your office: The Disinformation\u2062 Governance\u2064 Board\u2062 is back!&#8221; Peggy Little, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disclosed-how-obama-administration-officials-conducted-shadow-diplomacy-with-iran-to-undermine-trump\/\" title=\"Disclosed: How Obama Administration Officials Conducted Shadow Diplomacy With Iran To Undermine Trump\">senior litigation counsel<\/a> for\u200b the New Civil Liberties Alliance, said in a statement. &#8220;Your State Department \u2014 which\u2064 may\u2063 only address foreign \u2064affairs \u2014 has been secretly \u200dscheming with and funding private companies to\u200d create blacklists of \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pressure-builds-in-texas-for-investigation-into-illegal-immigrant-enclave-colony-ridge\/\" title=\"Pressure mounts in Texas for probe into illegal immigrant enclave Colony Ridge.\">conservative media \u200doutlets<\/a> to defund and silence speech\u2062 with which it disagrees.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The lawsuit was filed in the Lone Star State&#8217;s U.S. District Court for the Eastern District and is\u200c the \u2062latest and, one of the most significant, attempts by conservatives to stop the U.S. government from supporting organizations taking aim at right-leaning voices on the internet. It comes as Congress mulls a provision \u2064through \u2062the 2024 National\u2062 Defense Authorization \u2064Act that would bar\u200b the Defense Department from contracting\u2063 with the Global Disinformation Index, NewsGuard,\u200d and other similar &#8220;fact-checking&#8221; groups.<\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;Targeted American speech&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Blacklists&#8221; against conservatives crafted\u200b by the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, which have received grants or contracts \u200bfrom the Global Engagement Center, &#8220;reduce Media Plaintiffs\u2019 revenue, \u200cand upon information and\u200b belief, their visibility on social media, and\u2062 ranking results from browser searches, thereby reducing their circulation, readership, and reach, and \u200cotherwise negatively \u200cimpacting their operations,&#8221; the conservatives alleged in the Tuesday lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The GOP-led House\u200b Foreign Affairs Committee is leaning toward not reauthorizing \u200dthe Global Engagement Center in 2024 \u200dover concerns the interagency organization, \u2062which works with\u200c the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and\u2063 other federal bodies, has &#8220;censored&#8221; Americans and, according to a September 2022 inspector general report, \u200cfailed to meet\u200d its \u200d&#8221;mission&#8221; to fight \u2062&#8221;foreign\u2064 state and non-state\u200c propaganda.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Disinfo Cloud received a \u200d$3 million contract, according to the new\u200d lawsuit, which cites\u200b the NDAA in fiscal 2017. The Washington \u200dExaminer reported\u2064 in February that the GEC\u200c in 2018 began \u2064bankrolling Disinfo Cloud, a platform \u200bmanaged by an investment\u200d group called Park\u2063 Advisors.<\/p>\n<p>In turn, \u2063in \u200c2021, $100,000 quietly flowed from the GEC, to Park Advisors, to the \u2064Global Disinformation \u200cIndex\u200b for a program purportedly to fight &#8220;disinformation&#8221; in East Asia and Europe, the\u2062 Washington \u2064Examiner\u200d also\u200c reported in February.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Embassy in Paris, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure \u2062Security\u2063 Agency, \u2064North Atlantic Treaty Organization,\u2062 and British government collaborated with the GEC on the 2021 program, which, in part, \u2062prompted House Oversight\u2062 Committee Chairman \u2063James Comer \u200d(R-KY) and other congressional committees to launch investigations in 2023 into the Global Disinformation\u200d Index.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the Tuesday lawsuit noted that &#8220;a search of the government\u2019s official webpage for grants, contracts, or\u200d awards&#8221; finds \u2064&#8221;no grants or contracts awarded to Disinfo Cloud, Park Advisors, or Park\u2063 Capital Investment Group,&#8221; and only a $40,000 COVID-19 \u2062relief loan to the company \u2063in 2020.<\/p>\n<h3>Silicon \u200cValley<\/h3>\n<p>Disinfo Cloud&#8217;s &#8220;Countering \u2064Propaganda and Disinformation&#8221; platform, which\u200d the lawsuit said &#8220;targeted\u200d American speech, including \u200dMedia Plaintiffs,&#8221; previously \u2064&#8221;included supposed fact-checking technologies,\u2063 media \u200dliteracy tools, media intelligence platforms, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/craigslist-craig-funded-the-censorship-industrial-complex-to-silence-dissent-online\/\" title=\"Craigslist Craig Funded The Censorship-Industrial Complex To Silence Dissent Online\">social network mapping<\/a>, and machine learning\/artificial intelligence technology.&#8221; Initially, access \u200bto Disinfo Cloud&#8217;s website\u200c was only available\u2062 to military and government \u200busers, though the private sector later was able to gain \u2064access, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n<p>The GEC, which sought to engage social media companies to \u200dhelp thwart &#8220;disinformation,&#8221; formed a \u201cSilicon Valley Engagement\u201d initiative\u200c in 2019, documents show.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Through\u200d its Silicon\u200c Valley \u200dEngagement initiative, GEC\u200c marketed censorship technology to American companies, including \u200dthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-thomas-suggests-section-230-may-be-unconstitutional\/\" title=\"Justice Thomas Suggests Section 230 May Be Unconstitutional\">major social media companies<\/a>, such as\u2062 Twitter\u2063 (now X), Meta, LinkedIn, and others,&#8221; the lawsuit \u200dstated, noting that \u200ddiscovery \u2062in Missouri\u2063 v. Biden showed that then-GEC adviser Samaruddin\u200b K. Stewart was &#8220;a permanent disinformation liaison between\u2063 the government \u200band Silicon Valley&#8221; and &#8220;held a series of meetings with\u200c LinkedIn to \u2064discuss &#8216;countering disinformation.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Disinfo Cloud maintained a Twitter account that &#8220;amplified,&#8221; \u200cfor instance, \u200da\u2062 GDI post &#8220;that expressly acknowledged its goal was to ensure websites&#8221; deemed to be peddling \u200d&#8221;disinformation&#8221; would \u2062be prohibited from profiting on digital ads, according to the\u200c lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Disinfo Cloud also &#8220;promoted\u200b the\u2062 censorship&#8221; operations\u2064 of NewsGuard and, in \u200cApril \u20642021, &#8220;featured censorship tools and technologies that reached American outlets&#8221; in Disinfo \u200bCloud&#8217;s information digest\u200c to the \u2063public, including NewsGuard\u2019s \u201cResponsible Advertising for News Segment,&#8221;\u2062 which it said \u201chelp[s] advertising companies\u200c avoid \u200bwebsites known to\u200b host or produce mis\/disinformation,&#8221; the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;Pre-bunk&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>NewsGuard, which the lawsuit said ranks\u2063 the Federalist and\u200d the Daily Wire as &#8220;unreliable&#8221; media outlets, was awarded \u200b$25,000 in 2020 from the GEC to provide its &#8220;Misinformation Fingerprints database\u2064 to a\u200b joint Global Engagement Center-Pentagon program to &#8216;pre-bunk&#8217; Russian and Chinese disinformation\u2062 campaigns targeting Americans and our allies\u200d with false\u2064 claims,&#8221; NewsGuard\u2064 co-CEO \u2064Gordon Crovitz told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, NewsGuard \u200bwas also sent $50,000 from the GEC to lend its technology\u200c &#8220;to track how \u200dfalse Russian claims are picked up and promoted by propaganda operations run by the socialist government of Venezuela, including to spread these claims to other countries in Latin America,&#8221;\u200b Crovitz\u200d said. \u2063Federal records show that in \u20642021, \u2062NewsGuard was given roughly \u200c$750,000 \u200bfrom the Pentagon for it to license its data.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are proud of how our \u200bMisinformation Fingerprints database is used\u200c to\u2064 identify and \u2064counter aggressive hostile \u2063information operations\u200d targeting Americans and our \u200callies from the regimes running Russia, China and Iran,&#8221; the co-CEO \u2063added.<\/p>\n<p>The $25,000 that \u200bboosted NewsGuard in\u2062 2020 was in connection to a \u2062state-run &#8220;COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation&#8221; tech challenge, while the actual funds were paid\u2064 out through Disinfo\u200b Cloud, the lawsuit noted.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs hold \u2064that the GEC&#8217;s coordination with \u2062outside parties represented a widespread effort &#8220;to silence, down-rank, de-amplify, deplatform, de-boost, demonetize,\u2062 denigrate, \u2063or otherwise \u200dabridge Media Plaintiffs\u2019 First Amendment rights,&#8221; according to \u2063the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Upon information and belief, Defendant \u2064GEC maintains \u200da platform of censorship technology and tools, including\u2064 those \u200bthat target \u2064segments\u2062 of the \u200bAmerican press and \u2062Americans\u2019 speech,&#8221; the complaint \u2064said.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit also highlighted how\u2062 Disinfo \u200dCloud administrator and \u2062Park Advisor director Christina Nemr in 2022 founded \u2064Becera, a company\u200d that &#8220;bridges the public and private sectors to create innovative approaches that solve operational, governance, and administrative challenges through technology discovery and application,&#8221; according\u200b to its website. Becera has pocketed more than $1 million\u200c from the State Department as\u2063 a &#8220;sub-grantee,&#8221; the lawsuit\u2063 said.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department declined to comment. The Global\u2062 Disinformation \u200cIndex did not respond to a\u2064 request\u200d for comment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The government\u2063 is engaged in an ongoing illegal effort \u2063\u2014 funded by our taxpayer dollars \u2063\u2014to destroy our business \u2062and our First \u200cAmendment rights because of our politics,&#8221; Mollie\u200d Hemingway, editor-in-chief of \u2064the\u2064 Federalist, said in a statement. &#8220;The days of conservatives sitting back and doing nothing while a corrupt censorship-industrial \u200dcomplex actively\u2062 bulldozes the First \u200cAmendment are over. We will not stop until this entire corrupt \u200dedifice has been torn down, \u200dbrick by brick, and every single\u2062 person \u2062involved has \u200bbeen held accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire said in\u200c a statement: \u201cThe Biden administration\u200d is illegally funding\u200c organizations with the stated goal of \u200cfinancially crippling media outlets whose coverage does not walk in lockstep with the government\u2019s ideological agenda.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> \u2063 What concerns led \u2064the House Foreign\u2063 Affairs Committee\u2064 to consider not reauthorizing the Global Engagement \u2064Center,\u200d as mentioned in the September 2022 inspector general report<\/h2>\n<p><span>  &#8220;State Department Faces \u200dLawsuit \u200cfrom Conservative Media Over \u200dFunding &#8216;Censorship\u200b Scheme'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The State Department\u200b is at the center of a new lawsuit that accuses the United States \u2063government of \u200csuppressing conservative\u200c voices through a funding &#8220;censorship scheme.&#8221; The lawsuit, filed in the Lone\u2062 Star State&#8217;s U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, aims \u200dto stop the government from \u200bsupporting organizations \u200dthat target right-leaning voices on the internet.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2064lawsuit alleges that the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard, both of which have \u2062received grants or contracts from the Global \u200cEngagement\u200b Center, have crafted &#8220;blacklists&#8221; that\u2064 reduce the revenue and visibility \u2063of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stop-their-censorship-regime-ben-shapiro-highlights-daily-wire-lawsuit-against-biden-state-department\/\" title=\"Ben Shapiro spotlights Daily Wire lawsuit against Biden State Department over censorship\">conservative media\u200b outlets<\/a>. These blacklists negatively impact the operations\u2063 and reach of these outlets, according to\u200d the conservatives who filed the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by the GOP, is leaning towards not reauthorizing the Global Engagement Center in \u20622024 due to concerns about censorship and its failure to combat foreign propaganda, as highlighted in a September 2022 inspector general report.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit points out a $3 \u2062million contract awarded to Disinfo Cloud in 2017 and\u2063 additional funding that flowed from the \u200bGlobal Engagement Center\u200d to \u2064Park \u200cAdvisors to support the Global Disinformation Index in 2021. However, the government&#8217;s\u200c official webpage for\u2063 grants and contracts does not list any \u200cawards to Disinfo Cloud \u2064or Park\u200c Advisors,\u2064 except for a $40,000 COVID-19 relief loan in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Disinfo Cloud&#8217;s &#8220;Countering Propaganda and Disinformation&#8221; platform is \u2062accused\u2063 of targeting American speech, including conservative \u200dmedia outlets. The lawsuit alleges that the GEC marketed censorship\u2062 technology, such as fact-checking \u2062technologies and media intelligence platforms, to American companies, \u200bincluding major social media companies\u2064 like Twitter \u200b(now\u200c X), Meta, and \u2063LinkedIn.<\/p>\n<p>NewsGuard, which ranks the Federalist and the Daily Wire as &#8220;unreliable&#8221; media outlets, received funding from the \u2063GEC to provide its &#8220;Misinformation Fingerprints database&#8221;\u200d for a joint GEC-Pentagon program.\u200c This program aimed to &#8220;pre-bunk&#8221;\u2062 Russian and Chinese disinformation \u2062campaigns. \u200bNewsGuard also received funding \u2064to track false Russian claims and their promotion by\u200d propaganda operations\u2062 run \u2064by the \u2062Venezuelan government.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit raises concerns about the government&#8217;s\u200d involvement in supporting organizations that engage in censorship and \u200dthe \u200bnegative\u200c impact on conservative media outlets. It highlights the need for transparency and accountability in government funding\u2062 decisions that affect free speech and media circulation.<\/p>\n<p>As \u2064the \u2064lawsuit unfolds, it will be interesting to see how the court weighs the allegations against the State Department \u2062and its potential\u200d implications for government support of organizations involved in fact-checking and combating disinformation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lawsuit alleges that the US government, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, participated in a severe censorship operation against conservative voices. The focus is on a &#8220;censorship&#8221; tool previously held by the State Department. This lawsuit claims it to be one of the most extreme instances of government suppression of the American press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2117574,"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-2117573","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\/2117573","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=2117573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2117573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2117574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2117573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2117573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2117573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}