Little-known entities, influential corporations, and the U.S. government have for years been cooperating to target what people can read, watch, and listen to on a daily basis. Thankfully, the public is several steps closer to getting a more complete picture of how this covert ecosystem works. Its purpose, however, is quite overt: to steer advertising revenue away from right-leaning websites and publications.

In February, I broke the story on what we’ve come to call “Disinformation, Inc.” with a report revealing how the Washington Examiner and other right-leaning outlets are being blacklisted by a group called the Global Disinformation Index. Disinformation has become a catchall term for what in many cases isn’t disinformation at all but rather mere dissent. The inclusion of such out-of-fashion opinions at a journalistic publication is used to pressure companies to boycott that publication entirely.