newYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Editor's note: This article was first published on the author's blog: Res ipsa loquitur – the same thing speaks.
The year 2025 has just begun, and for the first time in many years, free speech advocates have reason to celebrate.
With 2024 gone, we've said goodbye to one of the most hated offices of the Biden administration: the Global Engagement Center (GEC). I discuss the center in my latest book.”The Indispensable Right: Freedom of Expression in an Age of Rage“As one of the most active elements in the massive surveillance system funded by the Biden administration.
The demise of GEC is a good start. However, like weight loss resolutions, it will take a greater degree of commitment if we are to restore freedom of expression in the United States. It is time to make the final decision to eradicate censorship, root and root, from our government.
In December, Biden administration They fought to keep the GEC funded, but Republicans refused to include it in the continuing budget resolution. However, even with the closure of this office, Biden will leave behind the most comprehensive oversight system in US history.
Jonathan Turley: What ABC's apology to Trump reveals about the media landscape
Over the past three years, many of us have detailed a comprehensive system of grants to academic institutions and third-party organizations to create blacklists or pressure advertisers to withdraw their support for targeted sites. Oversight topics ranged from election fraud to social justice to climate change.
I testified at the first hearing of the special committee investigating the oversight system funded or coordinated by the Biden administration. It is an unprecedented alliance between corporations, governments, and academic groups against free speech in the United States. The Biden administration has created the most anti-free speech record since the Adams administration.
House investigations showed the critical role government officials played in “switching,” or directing demands for removal or bans on social media. Officials have evaded the limits of the First Amendment by using these groups as a substitute for censorship.
Even with the cancellation of the GEC, other offices remain in various agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security, which has emerged as one of the critical control centers in this system.
Biden spent millions on “disinformation” research. The details are more disturbing than you think
CISA Chief Jane Easterly announced that her agency's mandate regarding critical infrastructure will be expanded to include “Our knowledge infrastructureThis includes not only “misinformation” and “misinformation,” but also combating “misinformation” – described as information that is “based on facts, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”
These groups form a censorship consortium where suppression of speech attracts millions of federal dollars. The Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) was created in collaboration with Stanford University “At the request of DHS/CISA.”
EIP provided a “central reporting system” to address what was known as “Jira tickets” targeting unacceptable views. This will include not only politicians, but commentators and pundits as well as the satirical website The Babylon Bee.
The Biden administration has created the most anti-free speech record since the Adams administration.
The Virality Project at Stanford University has pushed for censorship of even real facts because “true stories… can fuel hesitancy” about taking the vaccine or other measures. Emails show government officials stressing they could not be seen as “publicly endorsing” censorship while other groups sought to reduce public scrutiny of their work.
For example, one article showcased the work of Kate Starbird, director and co-founder of the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public. In one letter, Starbird cautioned against giving examples of misinformation to prevent critics from using it, adding, “Since everything is politicized and disinformation is inherently political, every example is bait.”
Likewise, James Park of the University of Michigan is shown promoting that school's WiseDex First Pitch program, promising that “our disinformation service helps platform policymakers who want… to shift responsibility for difficult judgments onto someone outside the company… responsibility for oversight.” difficult.”
The system contains layers of interconnected grants and systems. For example, EIP worked with the Center for Global Engagement, which contracted with the Atlantic Council on oversight efforts.
The censorship system included registration groups through a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to the Britain-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI). The index targeted ten conservative and libertarian websites as the most dangerous sources of misinformation, including sites like Reason, which publishes conservative legal analysis. Conversely, some of the more liberal sites were rated as the most trustworthy for advertisers.
The system still exists, but on December 23, 2024, GEC closed its doors. This is something to celebrate but not something to rest on. This is a redundant and overlapping system specifically created to allow for such attrition.
Years ago, some of us wrote about the creation of the infamous Disinformation Governance Council Homeland security Under the so-called “disinformation nanny”, Nina Yankovic. When the Biden administration gave in to public outcry and dissolved the board, many celebrated. However, as I have previously testified, the Biden administration never told the public about much larger oversight efforts at other agencies, including an estimated 80 FBI agents who are secretly targeting citizens and groups for disinformation.
Click here for more Fox News opinions
The system worked like a multi-headed hydra in that cutting off one head only allowed two more to grow back. These sergeants will not simply walk away and become dentists or bartenders. They have a skill set in censorship, and it is now a lucrative industry that supports dozens of people who now market themselves as “disinformation specialists.”
Closing GEC would eliminate a $61 million budget and 120 employees. However, these employees will find great opportunities not only in other agencies but in academia and state agencies. There are also pro-censorship sites like BlueSky, which have become safe spaces for liberals who don't want to be “incited” by opposing viewpoints. (It's worth noting that BlueSky hired a former Twitter employee who was subsequently fired Elon Musk Cleaned up in what is now X).
They won't go anywhere unless the Trump administration and Congress make free speech a priority in eliminating each of these funding sources.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
As I wrote in my book, we need to get the United States out of the censorship business by passing a law Excluding any federal funds For oversight use, including grants to academic groups and NGOs.
Rooting out this censorship system will require a comprehensive effort on the part of the government The new Trump administration. So, here's a resolution that I hope many in the Trump administration will share: Let's get the United States out of the censorship business in 2025.
