Disinformation Inc: State Department silent on if it will cut ties with conservative blacklist group
This is part of a Washington Examiner series on self-styled "disinformation" tracking groups that are blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media outlets. Here is where you can read other stories in the series.
A government group housed under the State Department won't say whether it will commit to no longer allocating future grants to an organization blacklisting conservative media outlets.
The State Department-affiliated Global Engagement Center, a government inter-agency aiming to fight foreign "disinformation" and "propaganda," awarded $100,000 in 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index, the Washington Examiner reported. However, this same entity has been silent on whether it will cut ties with GDI, despite the National Endowment for Democracy, which gave roughly $545,000 to it between 2020 and 2021, announcing it won't fund the self-styled "disinformation" tracker moving forward.
"The Global Engagement Center’s award to the Global Disinformation Index was closed on 15 March 2022," a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. "No further work is planned."
GDI compiles a "dynamic exclusion list" of conservative websites, including the Washington Examiner, that it flags as the foremost disinformation peddlers. It has claimed that the 10 "riskiest" news outlets, which are all right-leaning, are the Federalist, the American Conservative, One America News, the Blaze, the Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, Reason, the New York Post, and the American Spectator.
The Global Engagement Center initially handed its $100,000 GDI grant to an investment group called Park Advisers, which fights "disinformation, terrorism, violent extremism, [and] hate speech" as part of the U.S-Paris Tech Challenge. The challenge, which sought "to advance the development of promising and innovative technologies against disinformation and propaganda," counted partners such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the British government.
“There are legitimate national security concerns with hostile foreign powers spreading disinformation to undermine the United States that must be addressed," Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public's Trust, an ethics watchdog, told the Washington Examiner. "However, it is apparent that certain arms of government have used that justification to turn their focus on the free speech of American citizens, often for expressing views that are merely controversial or are contrary to the prevailing narrative."
On Feb. 20, the Washington Examiner reported that the NED would no longer give grants to GDI. Leslie Aun, a NED spokeswoman, said the nonprofit group wants to "avoid the perception" that it "is engaged in any work domestically, directly, or indirectly" since it has "strict policies and practices in place so that NED and the work we fund remains internationally focused."
The announcement came days after the NED briefed two congressional committees, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on its bankrolling of GDI. The GEC is expected to brief the House Foreign Affairs Committee on GDI funding on Wednesday, according to a congressional source familiar with the situation.
"Until the government stops acting as the default venture capitalist for the disinformation industry, this skepticism toward traditionally acceptable government programs is likely to persist," added Chamberlain, whose group filed several public records requests on Feb. 22 to obtain records on government funding to GDI.
The State Department's affiliations with GDI have continued to earn the ire of Republican members of Congress. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, demanded a briefing and documents related to GDI grants on Feb. 23, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
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"The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating reports that federal funds administered by the Department of State (Department) were used to suppress lawful speech and defund disfavored news outlets under the guise of combatting disinformation," wrote Comer wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"The Committee is disturbed by recent reporting that taxpayer money ended up in the hands of a foreign organization running an advertising blacklist of organizations accused of hosting disinformation on their websites, including several conservative-leaning news organizations," the letter continued.