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OPINION

The World Economic Forum Panel on Disinformation Was a Comedy of Bloviators

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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Screenshot via World Economic Forum

This week we see that the 2023 version of the World Economic Forum is taking place. This gathering is largely seen as the power brokers of the world gathering in a disturbing fashion to discuss the various means of spreading out control over populations in the name of global harmony. Lest you think I am being too harsh in my approach, just a few of the sessions and panels being held are "Profit and Purpose: Accelerating Equity of Opportunity," "AI for Climate Adaptation," "Tackling Harm in the Digital Era," "Stewarding Responsible Capitalism," "A Living Wage for All," and numerous others.

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As the elites have kited in to Switzerland, one panel that stood out was entitled "The Clear and Present Danger of Disinformation." Then we saw who was involved. On the panel was A. G. Sulzberger, figurehead of The New York Times. There was also Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, Czech politician Vera Jourova, who is Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency and previously served as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, and President and CEO of Internews, Jeanne Bourgault. Then there is the capper.

The panel was moderated by…Brian Stelter. This disinformation panel was headed by the man dismissed from the hyper-partisan CNN for being too slanted, who had dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story and pushed the false narrative of that being a false flag news item from the Russians. He – Stelter – would be running a panel on disinformation. I guess when you need an expert on the subject…

I watched this discussion, and it took little time to see the wheels coming off. It began with Sulzberger addressing the topic of disinformation. "The broader mix of bad information that's corrupting the information ecosystem – what it attacks is trust," he stated. That he was saying this as the publisher of The New York Times is laughable enough, but doing so in response to the disgraced Brian Stelter had – at the two-minute mark – already discredited this entire panel.

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Sulzberger took a question regarding the term "fake news" coming to rise six years ago and where we are today, a clear reference to Donald Trump's famed talking point. Sulzberger goes the obvious route of saying how that was a sign of other oppressive regimes, such as the Nazis. Then he unironically dropped in another comment that showed the utter lack of introspection with these experts.

"So, I think any time we're hearing language like that applied to a free press, or more broadly free expression, I think we should be really worried," he said while sitting with others discussing the practice of canceling out what they call disinformation. He said this to Brian Stelter, who has repeatedly called for the silencing of Fox News, cheered the removal of OAN from Direct TV, and supported the de-platforming of an entire social media platform, Parler. Nothing lays out the farce of this panel better than these "experts" decrying the practice they have also enforced as the elevated minds in media.

Jourava gave a lengthy monologue addressing the need to moderate what is deemed problematic information. Then she spoke about how methods are employed in her country to address what they consider to be a problem. This panel had just discussed the threat of oppressive governments attacking expression, and then she says this:

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Moulton appeared to be about the most rational of the panelists when asked about employing any such tactics in this country. He stated there were concerns but that he feels no one in Congress was looking to actually step on the First Amendment. This was when Stelter appeared oblivious to recent events. "Haven't we seen many Democrats in the past six years pressuring FaceBook and Twitter to be stronger in content moderation?" he asked. Yes, Brian, we have – and the Twitter Files show how those Democrats and other government agencies were complicit in working to silence voices. People are not thrilled with these revelations, Brian, as it shows the very oppressive government tactics your panel was just decrying as dangerous.

All of this shows just how unserious this panel was in its approach. What is ultimately revealed in this display is that they are not serious about addressing disinformation, but in controlling information. These are elitists who want to dictate what the approved speech will be and then take action to mold the approved national narratives. How can they sit with straight faces as they at once disparage a government clamping down on the free expression of citizens and then go on to tout the very activities leading to that result?

They have proven what the concern has always been with these calls to have disinformation addressed as a problem. They want to be the sole arbiters of what is considered misinformation, dangerous speech, or fake reporting – in other words, wrongthink. Once they control the approval process, they then control the speech, and that leads to the very kind of totalitarian censorship they pretend to be concerned could arrive. 

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It will not be considered "censorship" when THEY are the ones silencing sources. It will be couched as benevolent control done for the sake of safety…and they are supposed to be applauded for that oppressive control.

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