{"id":2144050,"date":"2024-01-09T06:38:41","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T11:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-in-hot-seat-for-sending-congress-incomplete-records-for-censorship-investigation\/"},"modified":"2024-01-09T06:43:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T11:43:34","slug":"biden-administration-in-hot-seat-for-sending-congress-incomplete-records-for-censorship-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-in-hot-seat-for-sending-congress-incomplete-records-for-censorship-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden administration under scrutiny for providing &#8216;incomplete&#8217; records to Congress in censorship probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/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-administration-in-hot-seat-for-sending-congress-incomplete-records-for-censorship-investigation%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=2144050&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 GOP Demands Complete Grant Records from State Department<\/h2>\n<p>The House GOP is \u200cintensifying its scrutiny\u2063 of the State Department, \u200daccusing it of providing\u200c &#8220;incomplete&#8221; grant records to \u2063congressional investigators. Of particular concern is\u2064 the agency&#8217;s funding of organizations that allegedly silence conservative voices online. The House Small Business Committee has \u2063renewed \u200dits request for \u2063information on grants awarded by the State Department&#8217;s Global\u200c Engagement Center (GEC), including funds given to \u200cthe Global\u200b Disinformation Index (GDI), a British think tank \u200bthat aims to \u200dstrip revenue from <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 \u200boutlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2064 a\u2062 letter\u200c to GEC Special\u2062 Envoy and Coordinator James Rubin, committee\u200b members\u200c expressed their broader concerns about &#8220;government \u200ccensorship and revenue interference of American small businesses\u200b by proxy.&#8221; They criticized the GEC for funding companies\u200c that label right-wing beliefs as &#8220;disinformation&#8221;\u200c and accused the \u200cBiden \u200dAdministration of positioning itself as the arbiter of\u2063 truth.<\/p>\n<p>This letter is the latest development in congressional efforts to investigate the federal government&#8217;s ties to the &#8220;disinformation&#8221; and &#8220;misinformation&#8221; tracking industry, which Republicans argue is\u2063 used to censor conservatives online. In December, the state of Texas, along with\u200b conservative media outlets \u2064the Daily Wire and the Federalist, filed a lawsuit against the GEC, \u200calleging \u2064an unconstitutional &#8220;censorship scheme.&#8221; The recently passed\u2062 Pentagon spending bill for 2023 also banned the Defense Department from placing advertisements in news\u2063 sources based on \u2064political preferences or biases.<\/p>\n<p>The House Small Business Committee accused the GEC of straying from its\u2063 mandate and raised \u200dconcerns about the lack \u2062of oversight over grant \u200crecipients. They \u200cdemanded an unredacted list of all GEC grant recipients and associated award numbers, expressing disappointment with the incomplete records provided\u200d by the\u2064 GEC.<\/p>\n<p>The committee also highlighted the \u2064GEC&#8217;s funding\u200c of \u200bMoonshot CVE, \u200da group claiming\u2064 to\u200c fight &#8220;conspiracy theories&#8221; and &#8220;hate speech,&#8221; as well as \u200cthe Atlantic Council&#8217;s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which partnered with the GDI. The lawmakers criticized\u2063 the GEC&#8217;s association with Albany Associates International, a British group that\u200c advocates for partnerships between government, academia, and tech to combat &#8220;disinformation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The GOP-led House \u200dForeign Affairs Committee is considering not \u2062reauthorizing the GEC in 2024\u2063 due to \u200cconcerns raised by a negative inspector general report and the grant to \u2063the GDI. The\u200d committee has been investigating the GEC&#8217;s activities \u2063and questioned GEC acting Coordinator Daniel Kimmage in a tense hearing.<\/p>\n<p>The House Small Business \u2063Committee has requested additional grant records from the GEC and may resort to issuing a subpoena if the office does not comply. The committee is particularly interested in an internal document titled &#8220;2023.02.14 GEC-GDI-BLACKLIST.docx.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Conservative media outlets, including Blaze Media and the Media Research Center, have \u2062expressed\u200b their concerns about the GEC&#8217;s actions, calling them unconstitutional and a threat to freedom of speech and the free \u2063press.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2062investigation by the House Small Business Committee has \u2062focused on government-induced censorship, interference in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/square-outage-leaves-millions-of-small-businesses-unable-to-charge-credit-cards-manage-inventory\/\" title=\"Square outage disrupts small businesses' ability to process credit card payments and manage inventory.\">small businesses&#8217; ability<\/a> to earn revenue\u200b from\u200d ads, and\u200b interference with small businesses&#8217; ability\u2062 to place advertisements on platforms other than their own.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department has not yet commented on the matter.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How \u2062does the House Small Business Committee&#8217;s request for information on grant \u2063awards shed \u200blight on concerns about bias and censorship in media funding from organizations like the Global Disinformation Index?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  \u2064 Political ideology, further reflecting concerns about\u2062 potential bias in media funding.<\/p>\n<p>The House GOP&#8217;s demand for complete grant records from the \u2063State \u200bDepartment signals a growing unease among conservatives regarding the agency&#8217;s\u2063 support for organizations\u2064 that they \u2063believe undermine conservative voices. The focus on \u200bthe Global Engagement Center and its funding of the Global Disinformation Index highlights \u2063concerns over censorship and bias in the dissemination of information.<\/p>\n<p>The House\u200d Small Business Committee&#8217;s request for information\u200d seeks to shed light on the grant awards made by the GEC, specifically investigating \u2064funds given to the Global Disinformation Index. This British think\u2063 tank has been accused of aiming to \u2063strip \u2063revenue from conservative media outlets, which has further raised concerns among committee members. Their broader concerns encompass government censorship and interference \u200cwith \u2063American small businesses, effectively positioning the Biden Administration as the sole arbiter of truth.<\/p>\n<p>This latest development is part of a larger\u2063 effort within\u2064 Congress to \u200dinvestigate the federal government&#8217;s involvement with the &#8220;disinformation&#8221; and &#8220;misinformation&#8221; tracking industry. Republicans argue that this industry\u2064 is often used as a tool to silence and censor\u200d conservative voices \u2063online. The lawsuit filed by the state of Texas and conservative media outlets against the GEC in December further demonstrates\u2062 the extent of these concerns, alleging \u200dan\u2064 unconstitutional &#8220;censorship scheme.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The recently passed Pentagon spending bill for 2023, which includes a ban on Defense Department advertisements in news sources based on political\u2063 ideology, further underscores the growing apprehension surrounding biased media funding.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the House \u200cGOP&#8217;s demand for complete grant records from the State Department indicates\u2063 a heightened \u2063scrutiny of funding decisions made by \u2063the\u2064 agency. \u200bThe concern \u200dlies in the potential silencing of conservative voices by funding organizations that label right-wing beliefs as &#8220;disinformation.&#8221; As congressional investigations continue, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/penguin-random-house-and-authors-sue-iowa-over-book-ban\/\" title=\"Penguin Random House and authors take legal action against Iowa's book ban\">debate surrounding censorship<\/a>, ideological bias, and the role\u2062 of the federal\u2063 government in the dissemination of information will remain at the forefront of\u200d political discourse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House GOP is intensifying its scrutiny of the State Department for submitting &#8220;incomplete&#8221; grant records to congressional investigators. The focus is on the agency&#8217;s funding of organizations that stifle conservative voices online. The House Small Business Committee Republicans are renewing their request to the State Department&#8217;s Global Engagement Center for details on awarded grants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2144051,"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":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2144050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"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\/2144050","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\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2144050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2144051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2144050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2144050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2144050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}