An explosive new article at The Intercept combed through years of internal DHS documents and uncovered an extensive effort to influence big tech platforms, which these platforms enthusiastically went along with.
While this sort of activity first came on our radar during the "Disinformation Governance Board" fiasco, this has been going on behind the scenes since at least 2018.
Prior to the 2020 election, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media were meeting on a monthly basis with the FBI, CISA (part of the DHS), and other government representatives as part of an initiative to "handle misinformation" during the election.
Meeting minutes uncovered from a lawsuit by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt revealed that discussions between the DHS and big tech companies have included the logistics of simplifying takedown requests for so-called "false or intentionally misleading" information.
In February of this year, Microsoft executive Matt Masterson (a former DHS official himself) texted DHS director Jen easterly “Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov’t. It’s really interesting how hesitant they remain." In a meeting the next month, FBI official Laura Dehmlow warned of the "threat of subversive information on social media" undermining support for the U.S. government.
Most damning was the revelation that the government employees have a formalized process for complaining about posts on Facebook and Instagram to get them censored:
There is also a formalized process for government officials to directly flag content on Facebook or Instagram and request that it be throttled or suppressed through a special Facebook portal that requires a government or law enforcement email to use. At the time of writing, the “content request system” at facebook.com/xtakedowns/login is still live.
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) October 31, 2022As for what the government wanted censored was largely anything that made them look bad. Their original mission for fighting disinformation was born out of the hysteria about so-called "Russian influence" in the 2016 election - though that was likely just the Trojan Horse. Are we really to believe they just wanted to stop there? As for what they targeted:
According to a draft copy of DHS’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, DHS’s capstone report outlining the department’s strategy and priorities in the coming years, the department plans to target “inaccurate information” on a wide range of topics, including “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”
How disinformation is defined by the government has not been clearly articulated, and the inherently subjective nature of what constitutes disinformation provides a broad opening for DHS officials to make politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous speech.
How disinformation is defined by the government has not been clearly articulated, and the inherently subjective nature of what constitutes disinformation provides a broad opening for DHS officials to make politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous speech.
Draft DHS quad review, which plans agency policy, leaked to us shows growing focus on MDM (misinfo, disinfo, malinfo) to protect homeland against spread of “toxic narratives.” How the agency defines false info and what narratives are prioritized isn’t clear. pic.twitter.com/DEopECw6sh
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) October 31, 2022
As we learned from the Hunter Biden laptop coverup, one man's October surprise is another man's "Russian disinformation campaign." The aforementioned Laura Dehmlow is a Democrat donor, and was one of the FBI agents who "briefed" Facebook to try to convince them that Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation.
If anyone from the swamp brands something "disinformation," it's more likely that the charge of disinformation itself is the disinformation.FBI agent Laura Dehmlow was in communications w Facebook that led to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 over the false allegation that it was “disinfo.” This year, she met w/ Twitter/DHS to stress “we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.” pic.twitter.com/17LqhEyMN0
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) October 31, 2022
Matt Palumbo is the author of The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros
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