The Intercept just did a really in depth expose on how and why DHS is silencing political speech on social media. Their full and detailed report is worth a read but here are the main highlights to guide you through. Homeland security is telling the public they backed down on the disinformation board. That doesn’t mean the work has stopped. Joe Biden’s propaganda ministry is moving full speed ahead with the project, under the radar.
DHS censoring social media
Quietly and without making a fuss about it, DHS is “broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous,” The Intercept writes. They went digging through years “of internal DHS memos, emails and documents.” They got some through leaks and some from a major suit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
That, they note, is one to pay close attention to, as it unwinds in court. What they learned is that the Department of Homeland Security is expanding their efforts to influence tech platforms, no matter what they’re saying in press releases.
When DHS announced the formation of a new “Disinformation Governance Board,” First Amendment supporters started screaming.
Facebook is the world’s disinformation machine. Its algorithm is designed to drive us apart. It threatens the very fabric of our democracy. It acts with impunity, and it’s accountable to no one.
Watch our video pic.twitter.com/j9ncQRhorw
— The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) November 1, 2022
When Big Brother wants to police misinformation, disinformation and malinformation which allegedly threatens U.S. interests, you can bet they’re talking about the opinions of deplorable MAGA Republicans. People who dare question things like the ongoing COVID19 state of emergency.
As soon as its creation was announced, “the board was widely ridiculed, immediately scaled back, then shut down within a few months.” The Deep State didn’t mind because “other initiatives are underway.”
DHS simply pivoted to monitoring social media. They need something to keep busy, The Intercept points out now that their “original mandate” to wage war on terror “has been wound down.”
This is a huge story and the left should be all over it. https://t.co/XnEZJsupDN
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 1, 2022
Shape online discourse
Since the attempt to suppress any speech feared by liberals went down in flames the moment they admitted to it, DHS decided to continue their evil plot in secret. “Behind closed doors,” the Biden regime continues to pressure all the social media platforms. Like the proverbial 900 lb gorilla, the government “has used its power to try to shape online discourse.”
All sorts of meeting minutes and other records used as exhibits in the Missouri suit show that “discussions have ranged from the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse to the mechanics of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.”
All the groundwork underlying the disinformation board provided a solid foundation for keeping it all going behind the scenes.
The First Amendment bars the government from deciding for us what is true or false, online or anywhere.
Our government can’t use private pressure to get around our constitutional rights. https://t.co/XCAzhoolBq
— ACLU (@ACLU) October 31, 2022
For instance, “DHS plans to target inaccurate information on” such political hot button topics as “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.” That’s why they hate Elon Musk so much.
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook “created a special portal for DHS and government partners to report disinformation directly.” What do you expect from a platform that allegedly began life as DARPA’s “Project Life Log.”
Google is firmly behind Big Brother as well. “Platforms have got to get comfortable with [government]. It’s really interesting how hesitant they remain,” Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, a former Homeland Security official, texted Jen Easterly, a DHS director, in February.
