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State Department’s Global Engagement Center — accused of pushing censorship to combat online ‘disinformation’ - shuts down
NY Post ^ | 12/26/24 | Victor Nava

Posted on 12/26/2024 7:34:28 PM PST by Libloather

The State Department’s controversial Global Engagement Center (GEC) shut down this week after congressional lawmakers nixed reauthorizing the agency in spending legislation to keep the government open.

“The Global Engagement Center closed on December 23, 2024,” read a message on the agency’s website.

The GEC came under fire from House Republicans after journalist Matt Taibbi uncovered evidence that it pressured US social media platforms early in the COVID-19 pandemic to censor Americans online, purportedly to counter “disinformation,” such as theories that the virus leaked out of a laboratory in China.

“We learned Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation ‘requests’ from every corner of government: the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA,” Taibbi testified to Congress in March 2023, shortly after his “Twitter Files” expose on the GEC.

The Washington Examiner later uncovered a $100,000 grant GEC made to the London-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI) in 2021 and 2022 — a media monitoring nonprofit that would go on to deem 10 outlets, including The Post, as purveyors of “disinformation.”

Several Republican lawmakers have argued that the GEC went well beyond its stated mission of “proactively addressing foreign adversaries’ attempts to undermine US interests using disinformation and propaganda” by attempting to censor Americans.

“This is an entity that is funded to censor conservatives,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said of the GEC during last week’s spending bill debate. “We should not be doing any of this stuff.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2021; 2022; bigtech; censorship; combat; covid19; disinformation; dissent; doge; fmic; gec; maligninfluence; online; technotyranny; winning
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Mz. Malarkey hardest hit.
1 posted on 12/26/2024 7:34:28 PM PST by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Were their internal records - including communications - retained ?


2 posted on 12/26/2024 7:36:02 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: Steely Tom

Next week, the usual suspects will get together and decide on a new name (same people, same mission).


3 posted on 12/26/2024 7:40:17 PM PST by rbg81
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To: Libloather

It seems this is but one tentacle. There’s also the cics office in homeland security that has an almost identical mission.


4 posted on 12/26/2024 7:41:07 PM PST by 556x45
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To: Libloather

[State Department’s Global Engagement Center — accused of pushing censorship to combat online ‘disinformation’ - shuts down]

How many accounts did they have on FreeRepublic?


5 posted on 12/26/2024 7:43:07 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Day's of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: bimboeruption; kiryandil; Allegra; aMorePerfectUnion

[to combat online ‘disinformation’]

Doink!


6 posted on 12/26/2024 7:45:10 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Day's of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Libloather

They should be arrested.


7 posted on 12/26/2024 7:48:23 PM PST by HYPOCRACY (Democracy is dead. Long live the Republic!)
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To: Red Badger; null and void; rx; rxsid; Travis McGee; Diogenesis; ransomnote
[“The Global Engagement Center closed on December 23, 2024,” read a message on the agency’s website.

The GEC came under fire from House Republicans after journalist Matt Taibbi uncovered evidence that it pressured US social media platforms early in the COVID-19 pandemic to censor Americans online, purportedly to counter “disinformation,” such as theories that the virus leaked out of a laboratory in China.]



COVID-1984






8 posted on 12/26/2024 7:50:50 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Day's of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Libloather

Their people will just be redistributed around the government so they are less obvious.


9 posted on 12/26/2024 7:51:22 PM PST by SauronOfMordor (Either you will rule. Or you will be ruled. There is no other choice.)
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To: HYPOCRACY

[They should be arrested.]

and then....

NUREMBERG II


10 posted on 12/26/2024 7:51:27 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Day's of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Libloather

Did its twin shut down as well or is it still up and running?

Haines made the announcement during a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC) will be focused not only on “foreign malign influence” aimed at U.S. elections, but also on “public opinion within the United States.”


11 posted on 12/26/2024 8:01:34 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: SaveFerris

Amen!


12 posted on 12/26/2024 8:02:38 PM PST by rdl6989 ( )
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To: Libloather

Meet The Shadowy Group That Ran The Federal Government’s Censorship Scheme
thefederalist ^ | 4/19/2023 | margot cleveland
Posted on 4/19/2023, 1:53:40 PM by bitt

The biggest concern is what GEC paid Park Advisors to do: fund and coordinate the censorship of Americans’ speech and our supposedly free press.

The State Department’s Global Engagement Center used a cutout corporation headed by a former intelligence officer to fund and promote the blacklisting of conservative media outlets and other censorship endeavors, research by The Federalist reveals.....


13 posted on 12/26/2024 8:04:09 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: piasa
Meet The Shadowy Group That Ran The Federal Government’s Censorship Scheme




14 posted on 12/26/2024 8:19:38 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Day's of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Libloather

Did it shut down?

Or did it just go underground and its permanent GS15 bureaucrats just take on other job titles?


15 posted on 12/26/2024 9:06:25 PM PST by PGR88
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To: Libloather

Don’t believe it - unelected bureaucrats who’ve developed a taste for censorship aren’t going to just give it up. The State Department will move the functions of the GEC to other parts of their bureaucracy and will hide their expenses in their budget.


16 posted on 12/26/2024 9:26:54 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: SaveFerris

I can think of three off the top of my head, but there could be more.


17 posted on 12/26/2024 9:59:39 PM PST by Spacetrucker
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To: PGR88
Or did it just go underground and its permanent GS15 bureaucrats just take on other job titles?

We expect them to try. Elon/Vivek team needs to watch the snakes.

18 posted on 12/26/2024 10:12:02 PM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Re-imagine the media!)
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To: Spacetrucker

yeah.......there’s something / has been something

almost as if ........ it’s a job ......


19 posted on 12/26/2024 10:33:36 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Day's of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Steely Tom

By law they should’ve been, and anyone who destroyed them could be prosecuted


20 posted on 12/26/2024 10:45:59 PM PST by suasponte137
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