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“You tried to create a censorship board inside a law enforcement agency of the federal government,” Posobiec continued, “And I took it down. We don’t do that in the United States of America.” In late May Jankowicz publicly named Posobiec as the person she most singularly blames for her downfall and the Ministry of Truth‘s evisceration. In her first interview since the board’s end, Jankowicz told MSNBC host Chris Hayes that her resignation was the result of a grandiose conspiracy or “coordinating mechanism” as “all these sensationalized narratives about what people thought the board was going to do was completely...

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.

"With Independence Day upon us let's celebrate an under-appreciated American archetype - the hyper-partisan defender of democracy. That is politicians who put country over party in times of crisis. Charles Thomson was the secretary for the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789. Along with John Hancock his was one of only two names to appear on the original printing of the Declaration of Independence. Thomson wrongly thought that the new country couldn't survive a two-party system, that polarization would reign supreme and the new nation would inevitably devolve into two mobs vying for power every four years. Thomson didn't know...

Obama Issues Executive Order for the government to use individual's behavioral data.

Under the newest version of a code of conduct originally established in 2018, nearly three dozen entities vowed to step up efforts to detect false claims, to label political advertising more transparently and to restrict advertising around disinformation, among other moves. Demonetizing disinformation is the “cornerstone” of the new initiative, said Thierry Breton, a European commissioner and one of the EU’s top digital regulators. Many of the biggest platforms signing onto Thursday’s agreement had already been operating under the older set of 21 commitments, which ranged from supporting fact-checking to scrutinizing ad placement. This week’s expansion grows the list of...

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...

Three weeks: That's how long it took for the Department of Homeland Security to go from announcing a board intended to combat disinformation to suspending it. In those three weeks, both the Disinformation Governance Board and its leader, Nina Jankowicz, came under relentless and sometimes vicious attack from right-wing media and Republican lawmakers. DHS initially shared few details about the board's function and purview, leading to speculation and fears it would police online speech. As the board's public face, Jankowicz became a lighting rod. A well-regarded authority in online disinformation, who has studied Russian information operations and advised governments including...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Wednesday announced plans to create a police unit designed to, in part, combat “hate speech” in the wake of the tragic shooting in Buffalo, promising to “confront this epidemic head-on.” “We’re proposing a comprehensive plan to combat domestic terrorism, strengthen state gun laws, & investigate social media platforms promoting violent extremism,” Hochul announced Wednesday. In wake of the racist act of terror in Buffalo, New York will lead the charge to confront this epidemic head-on,” she added:

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...

The now-former head of the Biden administration’s abortive disinformation board said in an interview Wednesday that she received death threats almost every day during her three weeks on the job. Nina Jankowicz made the claim to MSNBC “All In” host Chris Hayes hours after she announced her resignation following the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to “pause” the Disinformation Governance Board. “I have maybe had one or two days I didn’t report a violent threat,” she said. “Something like, ‘We’re coming for you and your family’, ‘You and your family should be sent to Russia to be killed’, [they] encouraged...

Following a report detailing the death-rattle of the Biden administration's Disinformation Governance Board, Executive Director Nina Jankowicz has officially resigned her post with the disinfo board and Department of Homeland Security. UPDATE:Following a report detailing the death-rattle of the Biden administration's Disinformation Governance Board, Executive Director Nina Jankowicz has officially resigned her post with the disinfo board and Department of Homeland Security.UPDATE: Nina Jankowicz has officially resigned from Disinformation Governance Board and the DHS. https://t.co/rLi3FvUNMw https://t.co/z4hdwTBFIB— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) May 18, 2022ORIGINAL POST:After a rough three weeks in which conservatives landed significant hits on and exposed major flaws with the...

As soon as the DHS agency to combat disinformation was created, director Nina Jankowicz found herself on the receiving end of a concerted campaign by the very same forces disinformation her office would face.

The Department of Homeland Security is 'pausing' its controversial disinformation board just three weeks after it was unveiled following withering attacks from Republicans and conservative TV pundits. It was intended to combat misinformation but critics quickly homed in on the role of its chief, Nina Jankowicz, and her history fighting disinformation and extremism. In particular, they questioned her expertise after it emerged she had dismissed the 2020 discovery of Hunter Biden's laptop as being a 'Trump campaign product.'

In late April, Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), made a bizarre announcement during a congressional hearing that DHS was forming what it called a “Mis- and Disinformation Governance Board.” The statement came in response to a question about how DHS was responding to supposed Russian interference in American elections. Mayorkas said the Board was intended to counter threats to both election security and “homeland security.” The DHS secretary did not, however, go into detail about what authorities the board would have and how it would exercise “governance” of the information, opinions, and narratives that reach...

Washington Post: "hundreds of combatants — dozens of them seriously wounded — were evacuated from the complex Monday." Reuters: "The Ukrainian regiment at the steel plant said it was fulfilling orders to save the lives of troops by evacuating them." AFP: "Rescue mission under way at Azovstal as hundreds evacuated" All of these articles make it sound as if the people involved are being "rescued" by the Ukrainian military and taken to a neutral or safe location. Mission over, on to the next task for them. None of these articles use the words "surrender", "prisoner of war" or "detention" which...

The Taliban took back Afghanistan in the late summer of 2021, shortly after the Americans withdrew, tired and weary and broke after nearly 20 years of fighting. They seized control of the country in the broad and particular sense: setting up command in the presidential palace in Kabul and targeting the individuals who criticized the new government. By December 2021, regular Afghans and the members of the Afghan press who had expressed critical views of their new rulers had “been subjected to months of intimidation and fear.” The Biden Administration has adopted these same tactics, calling for their critics to...

The Biden administration’s new disinformation chief says that parents who are upset about critical race theory (CRT) making its way into public school classrooms are “disinformers” who “weaponize” the issue “for profit.” [Let’s not forget the US Attorney General’s son makes millions selling CRT materials]Nina Jankowicz, who was appointed to lead the newly established Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, dismissed the pushback against CRT indoctrination at an event in Ohio last October, when the debate over parents’ right to direct their children’s education had taken center stage in high-profile elections, including Virginia’s gubernatorial race. “Critical race...

WASHINGTON - Attorneys general in 20 states have signed onto a letter asking the Biden administration to shut down a Disinformation Governance Board. The AGs say it's an infringement on free speech and could cause people to "self-censor" if they disagree with the government. The board, part of the Department of Homeland Security, was announced last week. But DHS has so far released few details on how the board will function and what powers it will have. "The existence of the Disinformation Governance Board will inevitably have a chilling effect on free speech," wrote Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. "Americans...

It’s so dystopian it seems like a movie, but it unfortunately is not. The Department of Homeland Security announced just last week that it is creating a Committee of Public Information to combat disinformation, headed by the self-proclaimed Russian disinformation expert, Nina Jankowicz. That’s right. The Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s 1984 is becoming reality nearly 40 years after the fictional story’s set time frame. Taxpayers are now funding the government to monitor what information is accessible to us online and what is deemed trustworthy and accurate news. We no longer need to think, right? Apparently, the people in...

The Department of Homeland Security is not starting up a “Ministry of Truth.” But the agency should be as transparent as possible about what its Disinformation Governance Board actually will be up to. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spent the weekend trying to mop up after his department’s botched announcement of a newly launched group tasked with countering the spread of false narratives. The rollout was ham-handed: With only mentions of this ill-defined entity’s existence and little explanation of its mission or the scope of its authority, conservatives were free to turn the board into a boogeyman in their broader...