The Daily Wire and The Federalist have jointly filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department, along with the state of Texas, over alleged censorship efforts. The lawsuit specifically targets the State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC), which is responsible for countering foreign terrorist propaganda. The plaintiffs claim that the GEC has been using taxpayer money to fund censorship organizations that target conservative media outlets, including The Daily Wire and The Federalist. The lawsuit alleges that the GEC has been promoting and funding the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard Technologies, Inc., which generate blacklists of American news outlets to discredit and demonetize them. The plaintiffs argue that the State Department's actions are an infringement on their First Amendment rights and seek to declare the attempt to interfere with domestic speech illegal. The lawsuit also seeks a permanent ban on the State Department's use of technology to restrict the lawful speech of the American press and Americans. The New Civil Liberties Alliance is representing the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has expressed support for their fight against the alleged infringement on constitutional rights.
In a related development, The Daily Wire has reported that the U.S. State Department paid for censorship practitioners from Germany to train teachers in the United States on how to police so-called 'disinformation.' The training sessions, funded by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, consisted of 11 online meetings from June 2021 to April 2022, with an audience of 700 schoolteachers. The intent was to train teachers to 'inoculate' students against disinformation and train them in 'media literacy.' The seminars were conducted by a team of three entities including Germany’s University of Würzburg’s Media Education & Educational Technology Lab, the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab, and the nonprofit Media Literacy Now (MLN). MLN lobbies for mandatory training in schools to fight 'misinformation' and 'online radicalization.' The State Department sessions were used to promote products from their for-profit 'partner,' Ad Fontes, as well as NewsGuard. The State Department-funded seminars were hosted by the Rhode Island Lab, which is chaired by Renee Hobbs, a communications professor at the University of Rhode Island and an advisory board member of MLN. The seminars pushed a 'Data Detox Kit,' which instructs teachers to install NewsGuard, a similar product to Ad Fontes. NewsGuard is a for-profit firm that rates news outlets, red-flagging conservative news outlets while rubber-stamping liberal ones. The State Department told The Daily Wire that with its $30,000 grant to Media Literacy Now, 'the U.S. Embassy in Germany supported the participation of German participants in the media literacy program.' The lawsuit filed by The Daily Wire and The Federalist against the State Department adds to the growing concerns over alleged censorship and propaganda efforts in U.S. schools.
The Biden Administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and State Department have also been actively supporting the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a UK-based nonprofit organization, in its efforts to censor Americans' speech online. The National Security Council published a strategy for countering domestic terrorism that justifies censorship and involves collaborating with foreign allies, civil society, and the technology sector. CCDH, known for its report 'THE DISINFORMATION DOZEN,' has been a key player in the censorship campaign. Emails reveal that DHS officials and CCDH connected to discuss research and strategies. CCDH also met with officials from the White House and the State Department. The mobilization of federal counterterrorism assets to promote censorship raises concerns about the Biden Administration's involvement in suppressing free speech.
YouTube was co-opted by the Biden White House for censorship. Leaked emails reveal YouTube's relationship with the Biden administration began in January 2021. YouTube's team was receptive to the demands of the administration and was touted as an exemplar to prod other companies. Concerns about vaccine hesitancy were a matter of nationwide policy concern and reflected the personal desires of President Biden. White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty expressed interest in YouTube's content moderation policies. Flaherty was hands-on with YouTube's censorship activities and prodded them to go further to eliminate dissenting views. The Biden White House exerted pressure on Facebook and Amazon to change their content moderation policies. YouTube's Trust and Safety Team sent a draft of its new content moderation policies for vaccine content to the White House for final approval. The coordination between the White House and YouTube extended to other subjects like reproductive health misinformation. Facebook and Amazon also changed their content moderation policies due to pressure from the Biden White House.
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