Federally backed censorship machine raises separation of powers, election meddling questions
October 4, 2022
A federal agency-backed censorship machine that affected thousands of web URLs and millions of social posts during the 2020 campaign put a focus on some members of Congress and candidates for federal office, raising concerns about the separation of powers and election meddling.
Four House members, including Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California and oft-censored Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and one Senate candidate are named in the after-action report by the Election Integrity Partnership, set up “in consultation” with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The consortium of four private entities, led by Stanford and University of Washington research centers, mass-reported alleged misinformation for 100 days before the election and about two weeks after, targeting Just the News among other news organizations. It claimed a success rate of 35% for content removal, labeling and “soft-blocking.”
CISA and the DHS-funded Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, as well as the State Department’s Global Engagement Center and the Democratic National Committee, could also submit misinformation “tickets” through the consortium to tech platforms.
Interference in digital communications by lawmakers and candidates “absolutely” could qualify as in-kind contributions under the Federal Election Campaign Act, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Read more here at Just the News.