Tag: Disinformation Governance Board

Commentary: DHS’ Secrecy About ‘Disinformation’ Regulation Docs

RealClearWire
Nina Jankowicz

Nearly two years after Nina Jankowicz briefly led the Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, she’s launched an organization demanding transparency and the public release of documents about the public debate on disinformation. An interesting move, likely without true transparency in mind.

My organization, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, has spent the same two years fighting DHS for documents on the federal board Jankowicz managed. We’re filing a second lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to fight continued government stonewalling of our requests. Thus far, DHS has refused to provide unredacted versions of documents that outline its purported authorities to regulate disinformation. Nor will the agency release more information about its work on misinformation related to “irregular migration” and “Ukraine” before the board was disbanded in August 2022.

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Commentary: Logically.AI of Britain and the Expanding Global Reach of Censorship

RealClearWire
Computer Keyboard

Brian Murphy, a former FBI agent who once led the intelligence wing of the Department of Homeland Security, reflected last summer on the failures of the Disinformation Governance Board – the panel formed to actively police misinformation. The board, which was proposed in April 2022 after he left DHS, was quickly shelved by the Biden administration in a few short months in the face of criticism that it would be an Orwellian state-sponsored “Ministry of Truth.”

In a July podcast, Murphy said the threat of state-sponsored disinformation meant the executive branch has an “ethical responsibility” to rein in the social media companies. American citizens, he said, must give up “some of your freedoms that you need and deserve so that you get security back.”

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DHS Stonewalls on Legal Basis for Policing ‘Misinformation, Disinformation, Malinformation’

Just the News

The Department of Homeland Security is not only hiding the purported legal basis for its authority to police misinformation, disinformation and malinformation – the latter sometimes jeered as “true but inconvenient” – but also any explanation for invoking an unexpected Freedom of Information Act exemption to hide them.

Hastily stitched together 22 years ago to prevent another Islamic terrorist attack but since turning its sights on domestic political disputes, the agency gave Just the News a lengthy defense of its work against disinformation but not an answer to how disclosure of its “MDM Space” legal authorities would imperil law enforcement work.

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Homeland Agency Expanded Authority to Wage ‘Domestic Surveillance and Censorship,’ House Report Says

Just the News

Secret documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee show that a Department of Homeland Security agency “expanded its mission to surveil Americans’ speech on social media, colluded with Big Tech and government-funded third parties to censor by proxy, and tried to hide its plainly unconstitutional activities from the public,” according to an interim staff report released Monday night.

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DHS Heavily Redacted Disinformation Board Emails Despite Claiming Agency Had Nothing to Hide

Just the News

When the existence of the Disinformation Governance Board burst into public view, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said there was nothing sinister to hide and claimed the office was rooted in “best practices.”

A year later, Mayorkas’ department is refusing to let Americans see most of the legal justifications and talking points it created to defend the now-disbanded board from “blowback,” FOIA documents showed.

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Whistleblower Docs: DHS’s Disinformation Board Was Poised to Crack Down on Information Questioning Vaccines, Masks, and Validity of 2020 Election

Admin

by Debra Heine   The Department of Homeland Security’s paused “Disinformation Governance Board” (DGB) was set up to respond to matters the government unilaterally determined to be mis-, dis- or mal-information (MDM)—specifically information that counters official regime narratives on “the origins and effects of COVID-19 vaccines,” “the efficacy of masks,” the validity of the 2020 election,” and “falsehoods surrounding U.S. Government immigration policy,” records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) reveal. A DHS whistleblower provided the senators with internal DHS documents revealing how the board planned to coordinate with social media platforms to enable the removal of user content it deemed to be “MDM.” “The First Amendment of the Constitution was designed precisely so that the government could not censor opposing viewpoints – even if those viewpoints were false. DHS should not in any way seek to enlist the private sector to curb or silence opposing viewpoints. It is therefore imperative for DHS to provide additional clarity regarding its policies and procedures for identifying and addressing ‘MDM,’ as well as its efforts to ‘operationalize’ public-private partnerships and the steps it is taking to ensure that it does not infringe on the constitutional rights of American…

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Virginia Congressman Celebrates Pause of Federal Government ‘Disinformation Board’

Peter D'Abrosca

A U.S. congressman from Virginia Wednesday celebrated the pause of the creation of a federal government “Disinformation Governance Board,” which was marred by controversy from its inception. 

“Victory for free speech: the Biden Administration is not proceeding with its Ministry of Truth. As a cosponsor of [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23)]’s bill to defund the so-called DHS Disinformation Governance Board, I welcome this news. I will stay vigilant against threats to the First Amendment,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09).

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Florida Congressman Leads Letter to DHS Head over ‘Disinformation Governance Board’

Peter D'Abrosca

A Republican U.S. Congressman from Florida Thursday issued a letter, signed by 170 colleagues, to the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after that executive branch agency announced the formation of a chilling new board aimed at tackling “disinformation.”

“The creation of this Disinformation Governance Board is an alarming attempt by the Biden administration to use the Department as a political tool,” said Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL-15) of the letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “DHS has no business determining what is and is not disinformation. This ‘Ministry of Truth’ will undermine the public’s confidence in the Department’s mission to protect the homeland and will tarnish its reputation. This is especially concerning as Americans continue to suffer a drug epidemic and have safety concerns with DHS’s failure to properly secure our border.”

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Miyares Leads 19 Other AGs in Criticism of Disinformation Governance Board

Eric Burk

Attorney General Jason Miyares is leading 19 other attorneys general in opposition to the newly announced federal Disinformation Governance Board launched by the Department of Homeland Security. The recently unveiled board has earned criticism from conservatives this week; in a fact sheet, the DHS explains that its role of protecting the U.S.’ security extends to “threats exacerbated by disinformation.”

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Biden’s Disinformation Czar Has It in for Americans Opposed to Critical Race Theory

Admin

The woman tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Disinformation Governance Board” called critics of Critical Race Theory (CRT) “disinformers” during a conference on disinformation.

Disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz said the GOP is made up of “disinformers” who “have seized on” issues like CRT to spread “disinformation” at a speaking event at The City Club of Cleveland in October 2021 titled “Disinformation and Democracy: Civic Discourse in the Digital Age.”

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Commentary: Congress Authorized DHS and CISA’s ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ Activities in 2018

Admin

In 2018, Congress unanimously passed legislation, H.R. 3359, that authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to disseminate information to the private sector including Big Tech social media companies in a bid to combat disinformation by potential foreign and domestic terrorists.

According to the agency’s website, CISA says it “rout[es] disinformation concerns” to “appropriate social media platforms”: “The [Mis, Dis, Malinformation] MDM team serves as a switchboard for routing disinformation concerns to appropriate social media platforms and law enforcement.”

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Americans for Limited Government Urges Congress to Defund Biden’s Plan for ‘Disinformation Governance Board’

Cooper Moran

Americans for Limited Government, an organization that supports reducing the size and scope of government, urged Congress to defund a portion of the federal code that allows President Biden to create a “Disinformation Governance Board.”

Biden created the new board under the Department of Homeland Security and claims it will focus on misinformation about the Southern border, while preparing for Russian disinformation threats.

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Biden’s DHS Sets Up Orwellian ‘Disinformation Governance Board’

Admin

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security has set up a new board designed to counter what it deems to be “misinformation and disinformation” threatening the homeland.

The “Disinformation Governance Board” that will be tasked with patrolling the speech of Americans, will reportedly be headed by “disinformation expert” Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington who formerly worked as an advisor to the Ukrainian government.

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