The Disinformation Governance Board Has Nothing to Do With Disinformation – Opinion

This whole Disinformation Governance Board idea isn’t going over too well. When it was announced that the Biden administration was creating an entire agency whose supposed purpose is to root out and address “disinformation,” folks on both the left and right criticized the move. As time went on and people learned more about the board’s function, people became even more incensed.

Rand Paul asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for a glass of wine as he grills him in a Senate hearing on Wednesday. The senator’s questions helped to expose why the creation of such an entity is not only unnecessary but terrifying to those who value the First Amendment and the spirit behind it.

Paul raised the issue of the disinformation campaign that was being spread by activist media regarding the Steele dossier. This disinformation turned out to be Russian propaganda.

“Here’s my question: The FBI concludes that the Steele dossier was full of Russian disinformation. CNN propagated this disinformation gladly for years and years,” the lawmaker said. “The difference, I guess, between your opinion and our opinion is that as despicable as it is that CNN propagated this disinformation, I wouldn’t shut them down, I wouldn’t lecture them, I wouldn’t put it on a government website that CNN is wrong for propagating disinformation.”

“The problem you have is you’re not even willing to admit — I mean, we can’t even have an agreement on what the FBI said was disinformation,” Paul continued.

Paul highlighted that the board cannot do any work regarding foreign disinformation campaigns and was therefore essentially pointless.

“You mentioned the Russians the other day when you tried to pivot away from this being about censorship,” Paul said. “Let’s just say … you’ve discovered tomorrow Russian disinformation that is going to hurt our national security, and CNN is broadcasting it, what are you going to do?”

Mayorkas didn’t have anything even remotely cogent to reply. But there is even more to this than Paul’s exchange with the Homeland Security secretary.

Critics of the board – especially conservatives – have speculated that its true purpose is to try to tamp down on right-leaning views on Big Tech platforms. Democrats’ frantic reaction to the news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk might soon own Twitter inadvertently exposed the reality that they are intent on suppressing conservative viewpoints online. The appointment of Nina Jankowicz to the top of the board is one of the most telling aspects of this story.

Jankowicz has been accused of being a disinformation expert. The new Ministry of Truth czar previously spread the lie that the scandal related to Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation, a claim made by numerous members of the activist media without evidence. The now debunked Steele dossier was also supported by her. Her ability to identify deliberate deceitful attempts at misleading the American public is quite selective.

If the Biden Administration was truly serious about disinformation management, they would not have chosen a leader that has made money from disinformation and then failed to admit their mistakes afterward. This and other factors demonstrate why Americans should not take seriously the White House’s assertions that the new Ministry of Truth is an innocent initiative designed to make sure people are informed.

Over the past year, we have learned that when any high-profile leftist uses the words “misinformation” or “disinformation,” what they are referring to is any content, viewpoint, statement, or argument that contradicts their ideology and preferred narratives about the issues of the day. It claims that it only deals with misinformation foreign to Russia from South America.

But, the administration already demonstrated its willingness to put pressure on private companies to remove right-leaning opinions from their platforms. Last year, the White House flagged posts containing “misinformation” about the COVID-19 pandemic and pushed Facebook to remove them. The White House is pushing social media platforms to increase their censorship in this instance, just one of many.

It is difficult to see how this agency could continue to focus only on efforts of foreign disinformation. It will only be a matter of time before it starts targeting Americans – and you know which Americans they will place in their crosshairs, right? Another action that the Biden administration took is not in their favor. But unfortunately for them, they don’t seem to have realized it yet.