This is part of a Washington Examiner series on self-styled ‘disinformation’ tracking groups that are blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media.
Here
is where you can read other stories in the series.
EXCLUSIVE — A top
Republican
member of Congress intends to “press” the Biden administration over the
Department of State bankrolling
a “disinformation” tracking group that is
secretly blacklisting
and trying to defund conservative media outlets.
The Washington Examiner’s multipart series, ”
Disinformation Inc
.,” has detailed how the State Department-backed Global Disinformation Index is taking steps to deplatform and shut down disfavored speech. Rep.
James Comer
(R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said he aims to investigate “this attack on the First Amendment.”
“U.S. taxpayer dollars should never be funneled to left-wing disinformation groups that are trying to blacklist American news outlets,” Comer told the Washington Examiner. “Freedom of speech and the press are core American values and must be protected against radical progressives seeking to censor opinions and facts that don’t fit their political narrative.”
“The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will press the Biden administration for answers about this attack on the First Amendment,” he added.
GDI compiles a “dynamic exclusion list” of conservative websites
that it feeds to advertisers
, such as the Microsoft-owned Xandr, with the
aim of pressuring
companies to cut ties with alleged disinformation.
The disinformation group has claimed that the 10 “riskiest” websites are the American Spectator, Newsmax, the Federalist, the American Conservative, One America News Network, the Blaze, the Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, Reason, and the New York Post.
The New York Post’s editorial board published a scathing article on Monday rebuking GDI, noting, “Here’s hoping Rep. Jim Comer’s Oversight Committee sees this glaring target and takes swift, harsh action.”
However,
Microsoft announced on Saturday
that it has launched an internal review and, for the time being, is not using GDI’s services. This means that Xandr
does not currently label conservative websites
as peddlers of disinformation.
On Tuesday, the Washington Examiner
reported on how the State Department-backed
National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit group that gets nearly all of its funding through congressional appropriations, sent $315,000 to GDI.
That grant came on the heels of the NED
granting $230,000 to GDI in 2020.
The Global Engagement Center, a grantmaking arm of the State Department, sent $100,000 to GDI in 2021, according to a government spokesperson. The money was handed out as part of the U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge, which
aims
“to advance the development of promising and innovative technologies against disinformation and propaganda” overseas, records show.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Why is the State Department using your tax dollars to fund a “disinformation” tracking group that is secretly trying to defund conservative media?
What happened to the First Amendment? https://t.co/JJz8tyIujx
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 13, 2023
Comer’s sharp remarks to the Washington Examiner come on the heels of several of his
Republican colleagues raising concerns
over the government funding GDI.
“Why is the State Department using your tax dollars to fund a ‘disinformation’ tracking group that is secretly trying to defund conservative media?”
tweeted
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on Monday. “What happened to the First Amendment?”
Another lawmaker, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), said, “It ought to scare everybody in this country, regardless of whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, that the government is that involved in censoring speech.”
