Free Republic

House Oversight Committee Republicans are kicking off an investigation into what they they called a “taxpayer-funded censorship campaign” at the Department of Homeland Security. Since 2020, the federal agency has been under fire for working with big tech companies to censor certain viewpoints mainly related to election integrity. The GOP launched its investigation after Monday's report by The Intercept dove into how the Feds had begun pressuring tech companies on a range of issues, including COVID-19, the vaccine for it, and Ukraine. The Center Square obtained a letter from the group, led by ranking member Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. The...

Jankowicz was scrutinized for her history of spreading misinformation, such as a story denying the existence of the Hunter Biden laptop. According to critics, DHS’ new board resembled George Orwell’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ from 1984 and was designed to silence conservative voices. It is clear from the novel that the ministry was used to spread information – and that it was able to rewrite the history of a fictional world in order to change the facts. After just a few weeks, the DHS shut down the board for a “pause”, and its head, Jankowicz, resigned.

he Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency outsourced its "censorship operation" to a nonprofit it funded following a First Amendment lawsuit by Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general, "implicitly admitting that its censorship activities are unconstitutional," according to an interim staff report by House Judiciary Committee Republicans shared with Just the News. CISA also wanted to use the Center for Internet Security, which operates the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), as its "mouthpiece" to obfuscate its own role in censorship, the report says. It cites spring 2022...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) met weekly with large social media platforms to collaborate on moderating content, according to a deposition this week from FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan. Chan, who was one of the two FBI agents who contacted Facebook ahead of its censoring of the Hunter Biden laptop warning of potential Russian disinformation operations, said that the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials met weekly with social media companies to remove specific accounts ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to his deposition cited by Missouri Attorney General...

Below is my column in the Hill on the first hearings this week to be held by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. It could be one of the most consequential investigations for free speech in decades if it pulls back the curtain on government censorship programs. After the historic release of the Twitter Files by Elon Musk, questions remain on any similar coordination with other social media companies with federal agencies like the FBI to target views considered “disinformation” or “misinformation.” Here is the column: This coming week a new House select subcommittee will hold...

The former head of President Joe Biden’s defunct Orwellian Disinformation Governance Board found a new gig by registering as a foreign agent to fight so-called “disinformation." Former DGB Executive Director Nina Jankowicz said in a Nov. 18 “foreign agents” filing with the Department of Justice that she would be hired as a “disinformation expert” with the U.K.-based Centre for Information Resilience. Jankowicz’ role involves acting as an “ambassador for CIR on the Hill, within the Federal Government, media, among tech companies / Silicon Valley, on ‘K Street’, and among potential philanthropic organisations.” It appears the self-proclaimed “Mary Poppins of disinformation”...

The Department of Homeland Security has officially terminated its Orwellian plans for a Disinformation Governance Board. The action follows MRC Free Speech America, in conjunction with MRC Business, exposing the DGB’s leftist bias — including its connections to liberal billionaire George Soros. The DHS announced in an Aug. 24 press release that Homeland Security Secretary Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter Thursday after a recommendation from the Homeland Security Advisory Council. This development follows the DGB pausing operations after mass public backlash. MRC Business was the first to expose how the DGB’s former co-chair,...

The triggered liberals at The New York Times are having a cow over fears that Washington, D.C., won’t be able to install a censorship apparatus to root out so-called “disinformation.” The Times published a whiny story headlined: “Disinformation Has Become Another Untouchable Problem in Washington.” The piece, plastered with a photo of a stone-faced former Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) Director Nina Jankowicz, whined that Biden’s Ministry of Truth “was dismantled — put on ‘pause,’ officially — undone in part by forces it was meant to combat, including distortions of the board’s intent and powers.” The Times has tried for weeks...

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) joined the June 8 edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight to expose new whistleblower documents blowing the lid off of the nefarious designs of the Biden administration’s Disinformation Governance Board. New Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents posted on Hawley’s website reveal that the department “drafted plans for the Disinformation Governance Board as early as September 2021,” according to a press release from Hawley’s office. In addition, the press release says the DHS “explored the possibility of partnerships with Big Tech companies like Twitter to assist in their efforts.” The leaked documents characterized questions on the validity...

The New York Times appeared to be tickled pink over liberal-run states shoehorning President Joe Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board idea into their own election governance processes. The Times technology and regulation reporter Cecilia Kang celebrated Connecticut for a reported recent state effort to hire an election “misinformation” expert with a $150,000 salary. Kang’s story painted the idea of Connecticut’s so-called state “misinformation” officer like he or she would be a dogged crime-fighter. The story had a fawning headline: “Help Wanted: State Misinformation Sheriff.” Kang whined how the state faced “a bevy of falsehoods about voting that swirled around online.” To...

Records suggest that the former darling of the Disinformation Governance Board Nina Jankowicz was one of President Joe Biden’s donors. Federal Election Commission records show that Jankowicz donated at least $380 to Biden’s campaign and $280 to the Biden Victory Fund during the 2020 electoral cycle. The most recent donation records suggest she contributed to Biden’s election efforts on Oct. 10, 2020, four days before release of the now-verified New York Post Hunter Biden laptop bombshell, and 12 days before she parroted leftist talking points that the Hunter story was part of “a Russian influence op.” The news comes after...

A 2020 report by a think tank funded by liberal billionaire George Soros raised questions about whether it had any hand in the creation of President Joe Biden’s “Ministry of Truth.” The Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board “may have originated from an under-the-radar think tank report that called on the department to change its focus,” Just the News reported. The 2020 report, published by the establishment Atlantic Council, called on the DHS to begin “prioritizing ‘nonmilitary threats,’ such as white supremacism and disinformation,” according to Just the News’ article. The report was headlined, “Future of DHS Project: Key...

The New York Times had a cow over the apparent demise of President Joe Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board and painted it as a victim of — wait for it — disinformation. Times “veteran” foreign and national security correspondent Steven Lee Meyers published an asinine story headlined: “A Panel to Combat Disinformation Becomes a Victim of It.” Meyers mourned that the Department of Homeland Security was “suspending the work” of the DGB “intended to combat disinformation after what the department described as a deliberate disinformation campaign.” According to Meyers’ lament, “the fiercest denunciations came from the right,” which included correct characterizations...

Jennifer Daskal, one of President Joe Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board leaders, doesn’t just have several ties to liberal billionaire George Soros. She was also a Biden donor during the 2020 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pledged the censorship board will “operate in a ‘nonpartisan and apolitical manner.’" However, now we know this is apparently false. FEC records revealed that Daskal — whom Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas named a Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) “co-chair” — donated at least $1,150 to President Joe Biden's campaign and $950 to the...

A few important things happened the last couple weeks. Brief points about them:

Following the circulation of cringey videos and disproven tweets posted by Nina Jankowicz, the head of DHS' new "Disinformation Governance Board," a video of public remarks Jankowicz delivered in 2021 gives Americans another idea of what sort of speech Biden's so-called Minister of Truth may look to stifle when it comes to expression that's inconvenient for Democrats. In October, Jankowicz spoke at the City Club of Cleveland's annual meeting, delivering an address titled "Disinformation and Democracy: Civic Discourse in the Digital Age." How nice. During her remarks, Jankowicz outlined the supposed threat of disinformation — and she would know after...

The Biden administration is freaking out over the truth being exposed. They are now launching a “Disinformation Governance Board” to go after what they claim is misinformation. The group will be specifically focusing on irregular migration and Russia.