Politics

Censorship

How the US Government funded narrative control operations around the globe

April 23, 2025 Rebekah Barnett via Dystopian Down Under 0
Narrative control efforts to give the US a competitive advantage over Russia and China make sense – this is what we expect of nation states. Why the US Government should be so invested in pushing vaccines and influencing the information environment surrounding the elections of small and far-flung nations is less obvious, unless you understand the US to be an empire representing the interests of major cartels and an ambitious deep state.

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Censorship

State Department Closes Censorship Office

April 19, 2025 Joshua Arnold via The Washington Stand 0
Rather than censor Americans’ speech directly, which would raise obvious First Amendment concerns, GEC and other federal agencies “effectively outsourced to the newly emerging censorship-industrial complex” to private proxies, according to a report published by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government — as if that made the First Amendment problems go away.

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Academia

A battle over religion and schools in Oklahoma could decide the future of the First Amendment

April 4, 2025 Lawrence Hurley via NBC News 4
Under Walters’ watch, the state approved the first ever religious virtual public charter school, a provocative move that is now before the Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the move next month. He has also proposed placing Bibles in schools, a move that was recently blocked by the state Supreme Court, and is seeking to add more Christian-related themes to the curriculum, including information about the Ten Commandments.

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Censorship

Biden admin’s ‘vast censorship enterprise’ with help of NGOs slated for key hearing, lawmaker says

March 25, 2025 Julia Johnson via Fox News 1
“The Biden Administration created a vast censorship enterprise, comprised of a sprawling network of federal agencies and NGOs that have been working overtime to censor Americans’ speech. From special reporting portals to the White House press secretary admitting at the podium that they were flagging posts to be taken down, the level of coordination to subvert the First Amendment and remove disfavored speech was beyond what most imagined,” the Missouri senator told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement previewing the hearing. 

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AI

America First Legal Exposes Censorship Scheme by USAID and Global Engagement Center, Working With UK Government and Media Firms, to Use AI Censorship Tools

March 22, 2025 America First Legal 1
“The partnership between USAID and the Global Engagement Center is bad news for the American people. Add in the fact that they were coordinating with internet censorship enforcers at NewsGuard and Poynter, and you can start to see just how dangerous this unholy alliance is for free speech and free expression. Thankfully, the GEC is shuttered and USAID is being exposed — but lawmakers should take note of this example as they consider legislation to ensure the federal government actually serves American principles and interests,” said Andrew Block., America First Legal Senior Counsel

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Politics

Trump Guts International Propaganda Agencies

March 19, 2025 Paul Dragu via The New American 1
Perhaps Connor O’Keeffe of the Mises Institute said it best:

Voice of America absolutely should go away. Employees and supporters of VOA like to describe the outlet’s purpose as providing “objective” and “balanced” reporting on current events. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find out that what VOA staffers are really passionate about is “promoting democracy” abroad and helping in a global fight against authoritarianism. … It’s a propaganda outlet that we’re all forced to fund. It is one part of the broader regime change apparatus that got a lot of exposure earlier in the year with the gutting of USAID. Funding foreign propaganda campaigns is not our responsibility. Your average American family does not have a moral obligation to send part of their paycheck to try and turn people in Belarus against their government.

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