Government conspires with Big Tech to Censor Americans //

Despite the fact that there has been a lot of negative media attention this past year on the now-dissolved Disinformation Governance Board (DGB), government collusion with social media platforms is increasing.

A legislative solution is needed to end this collaboration between the Department of Homeland Security, companies like Twitter and Facebook in order to control the speech of Americans.

A concerning report from The Intercept highlighted the terrifying potential of these disinformation attempts on Halloween. The article cited leaked DHS documents and stated:

A draft copy of DHS’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (DHS’s capstone report that outlines the department’s strategy and priorities for the next years) shows that the department plans to target “inaccurate information” on a wide variety of topics, including the origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the efficacy COVID-19 vaccines.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security to protect the homeland and not to monitor Americans’ speech.

The Intercept’s revelations regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s formal effort at coordinating censorship with technology platforms make it clear that the department is more concerned with alleged threats from Americans. While the department does not have an official Disinformation Governance Board anymore, President Joe Biden as well as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas use informal working groups and private companies for political suppressionof speech.

The Department of Homeland Security, in particular through its Cybersecurity Agency and Infrastructure Security Agency , as well as FBI, has been arbitrating truth and falsity for some time, dating back to the late 2000s.

But today’s censorship, propaganda and omissions are growing at an unprecedented rate. Big Tech gives our government the tools they need to be dangerously efficient in their efforts.

According to The Intercept’s leaked DHS documents, third-party entities like Facebook and Tweet are willing to “clearing houses” that funnel information out to the public in order to “avoid any appearance of government propaganda.”

Both Twitter and Facebook created online portals through which government agents could submit and may still submit censorship directives for corporate action. These relationships are a result of a coordinated campaign to promote truth and consolidate the power of the Biden administration. Big Tech’s participation in these campaigns undermines its claim of offering neutral platforms.

Government agencies claim that reporting disinformation threats to private social networking platforms gives these companies the freedom to do whatever they want. There is evidence to support this assertion: There are clear expectations that these companies will censor and working relationships between public and private entities.

In August, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg disclosed that his company had censored stories concerning Hunter Biden’s laptop at FBI request just before the 2020 election. The Intercept’s report has made possible to read text messages between Microsoft executives, government officials, and . This reveals that even though they are supposedly neutral, they are willing to do the dirty work of dismantling information that doesn’t support the Biden administration.

Matthew Masterson, a Microsoft representative, told the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s head in February that “platforms need to get comfortable with government.”

Jen Easterly was likely pleased to be appointed by Biden as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s head. Masterson was pleased to receive Easterly’s previous text from Easterly. She stated that she wants to “get us in a position where Fed can work alongside platforms to better understand mis/dis trend so relevant agencies can attempt to prebunk/debunk” as useful.

This collusion between a Big Tech firm and a government official exposes the extent to which an elite few control public information. It is important that the elected representatives of the people reverse this dangerous precedent.

The Intercept’s report will inform future lawmaking about the liability protections internet platforms enjoy because of Section 230 Communications Decency Act. Section 230, as it stands, gives tech executives the freedom to paint censorship in the broad brush of “misinformation.”

While Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has examined social media discriminatory censorship , all lawmakers must act to hold tech companies accountable for instances of political censorship.

Congress must have a significant oversight of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other agencies, and tech company interactions with them. They also need to defund their misinformation cronyism.

After this disinformation work has been dismantled legislators should reexamine Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act and its law that created it to limit any authority that could be used for content moderation and prevent deviance from the clear mission of securing the homeland.

We cannot rely on tech policy leaks any more than we can wait to hear from the next brave whistleblower in Congress. It is past time to ensure transparency and accountability on internet platforms.

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The Daily Signal published the article When Government Colludes with Big Tech to Censor Americans.