With so much information coming out detailing how our federal government has been engaging in Orwellian behavior, one has to wonder how much longer the American people will stand for it. Unfortunately, at a time when Americans are increasingly divided, the state seems to be having a field day while most of us are consumed by the outrage of the day.
A conservative legal organization has uncovered documentation revealing how the State Department, through its Global Engagement Center (GEC), has not only been censoring content online that contradicts the government-approved narrative on various issues but has also been colluding with establishment media outlets to further propagandize the public.
America First Legal (AFL) recently released documentation obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of State. The documents shed light on the GEC’s efforts to influence the public into accepting the government’s narratives on Russian misinformation, COVID-19 vaccines, and other issues. Despite its stated mission of combating foreign disinformation, the GEC has been found to support the dissemination of these government-approved viewpoints and outsource propaganda and censorship to private entities.
The GEC is a government agency that is responsible for countering foreign disinformation and propaganda. It was established in 2016 under the State Department’s authority and is tasked with coordinating and synchronizing efforts across various agencies to combat misinformation and influence campaigns conducted by foreign actors.
The Center’s stated objective is to supposedly expose counter-narratives spread by foreign governments and non-state actors that aim to undermine American interests, values, and national security. It operates through a combination of strategic communications, research, and partnerships with international organizations, civil society groups, and technology companies. Over the past year, several reports have been published showing that this is a lie. The group exists to censor Americans from expressing views that go against the narrative the state wants the people to believe.
The newly released documents obtained by America First Legal highlight the GEC’s coordination with a global cartel of “fact-checkers” through the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to control the international media narrative. This cabal consists of independent foreign journalists as well mainstream media organizations like the Associated Press and USA Today.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the documents indicate that the GEC also provides financial support to these media organizations, which obviously raises concerns about their journalistic independence. AFL’s investigation reveals the deep entrenchment of the GEC in conducting mass surveillance, censorship, and propaganda to suppress dissenting views, ultimately exposing the erosion of free speech and independent journalism in the face of state-sponsored influence operations.
The group has been quite busy partnering with popular media outlets to influence the public. According to the documents, the agency engaged major media outlets like the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal to disseminate the government’s propaganda on various topics.
So much for the idea of a free and independent media, right?
The GEC’s financial support of media outlets is an appalling revelation that will likely go completely unnoticed by most of the population. Nevertheless, it raises concerns about their independence and impartiality. When media organizations rely on government funding, there is the inevitability that they will be influenced to align their narratives with the interests of the funders. This compromises their ability to serve as objective sources of information, eroding public trust and undermining their essential role as watchdogs and truth seekers.
By collaborating with establishment media outlets so brazenly, the GEC shows that it has no concerns about narrowing the range of perspectives and stifling diversity of opinion. The agency is essentially turning the press into its vehicle for promoting government propaganda. Thanks to the Twitter Files, we have already seen how this results in alternative viewpoints or dissenting voices being marginalized or suppressed. This appears to be the objective of the Center and other state agencies whose role is ostensibly to deal with “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
America First Legal is doing good work in uncovering the partnership between the federal government and the media outlets that Americans have grown to trust. Hopefully, the organization can use the legal system to fight back against the effort to further propagandize the American public. But this is yet another example of government overreach that could grow even worse as long as people are not aware of it.