
The Biden Administration’s new “Disinformation Czar,” Nina Jankowicz, pictured here discussing cyber security at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria on October 10, 2019. Photo courtesy of US Embassy Vienna. License.
In what is a rather ominous-sounding name that would have George Orwell penning a sequel to his dystopian novel “1984,” are we facing a new chapter on policing Americans and rights to free speech? The Biden administration’s explanation of the new agency’s purpose has been insufficient enough to sound alarms in some quarters over the newly formed Disinformation Discovery Board.
As The Federalist points out, now we have the government deciding what’s true and what’s false. Will dissenters be punished accordingly?
The bureaucrats who run the Department of Homeland security, where this board will be housed, are going to be parsing fact from fiction, obviously to keep us all safe from the scourge of independent judgment and thought.
Reportedly, dozens of Republican lawmakers and pundits widely criticized the new board and called for it to be disbanded.
From Josh Hawley: “Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority.”
From Sen. Rob Portman (OH), expressing concern about the United States “turning the tools that we have used to assist our allies counter foreign adversaries onto the American people.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers the DGB will focus on both Russian disinformation campaigns targeting elections and human smugglers’ social media posts encouraging migrants to attempt a journey to the United States’ southern border.
Last week, the agency declined interview requests, but told the Associated Press in a statement that “the spread of disinformation can affect border security, Americans’ safety during disasters, and public trust in our democratic institutions.”
Secretary Mayorkas also admitted, “We probably could have done a better job of communicating what it does and does not do.”
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