Tipsheet

The Federal Government Had a Major Academic Partner in Its Censorship Regime

Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich  |  November 07, 2023 9:00 AM

A new report published late Monday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan shows the partnership between the federal government, big tech and academia to censor conservatives was even more widespread than previously known. 

"Following the 2016 presidential election, a sensationalized narrative emerged that foreign 'disinformation' affected the integrity of the election. These claims, fueled by left-wing election denialism about the legitimacy of President Trump’s victory, sparked a new focus on the role of social media platforms in spreading such information," the report, put together by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, states. "'Disinformation' think tanks and 'experts,' government task forces, and university centers were formed, all to study and combat the alleged rise in alleged mis- and disinformation. As the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have shown previously, these efforts to combat so-called foreign influence and misinformation quickly mutated to include domestic—that is, American—speech."

"Enter the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a consortium of “disinformation” academics led by Stanford University’s Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) that worked directly with the Department of Homeland Security and the Global Engagement Center, a multi-agency entity housed within the State Department, to monitor and censor Americans’ online speech in advance of the 2020 presidential election. Created in the summer of 2020 'at the request' of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the EIP provided a way for the federal government to launder its censorship activities in hopes of bypassing both the First Amendment and public scrutiny," the report continues. 

A number of prominent conservatives were targeted for censorship.  

Earlier this year a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to cease contact with big tech companies after a lawsuit was filed by then Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. The case is headed to the Supreme Court. 

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