GOP threatens to shut down taxpayer-funded program over censorship
Republicans are threatening to shut down a taxpayer-funded program they claim is censoring conservative Americans' freedom of speech. The State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) directs and coordinates efforts to 'counter foreign propaganda and disinformation.'
But it has been exposed for giving out taxpayer-funded grant money to organizations currently being sued for First Amendment-related violations, posing freedom of speech and censorship risks according to GOP members of Congress. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is now asking why the taxpayer-funded program should continue.
In a letter McCaul wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken this month first obtained by DailyMail.com, the chairman is demanding the GEC be shut down at the end of the year. He also wants to know why the department has 'withheld information' on the center's effectiveness.
'To begin with, the GEC is facing growing scrutiny here in Washington and across the country,' McCaul wrote to Blinken in the letter. 'Many of these inquiries concern the GEC's relationships with organizations – primarily U.S. technology companies and NGOs – that conduct censorship worldwide.' Some of the GEC's partner organizations that McCaul says are engaged in censorship practices are the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI).
He says that the EIP conducted censorship by communicating 'with social media companies to identify American-origin posts as mis- or disinformation and effect their takedown, many during the 2020 election cycle.' McCaul has also questioned the GEC's partnership with GDI, which maintains a 'blacklist' of U.S. news outlets. He claimed that list is evidence of bias against conservative publications and thus the GDI is not deserving of grant funding.
The GEC is also a central feature in two ongoing federal lawsuits, the chairman notes in his letter. Both have alleged the federal government infringed Americans First Amendment rights. 'The House Committee on Foreign Affairs has repeatedly expressed its concerns that the GEC is: (1) contributing to the censorship of American voices through grants to, and other collaboration with, private organizations that conduct operations in both the U.S. and foreign countries; and (2) effective perhaps at identifying, but nonetheless ineffective at preventing or stemming, foreign misinformation and disinformation.'
The letter also highlights how the GEC has been at the center of several congressional probes and an internal State Department report found the group 'has suffered from serious internal dysfunction.' The GEC was set up during the global war on terror and has been used to combat misinformation about the U.S. and its operations, particularly during its fight with ISIS. But Republicans are suggesting its downfalls outweigh its benefits.
McCaul continued to Blinken: 'Your Department refuses to acknowledge that these ongoing controversies complicate an objective appraisal of the GEC.' 'Any value the GEC provides is tempered by genuine concerns that the GEC is at best indifferent to, and at worst complicit in, an orchestrated and systematic effort to stretch the term 'disinformation' to encompass viewpoints that, among American progressives, are deemed to be politically disfavored or inconvenient.'
'Unfortunately, as we will describe, the Department has denied us the information necessary to assess these issues' severity; as such, we have serious reservations about reauthorizing the GEC.' McCaul requested Blinken provide additional answers on GEC's effectiveness before July 19 so that the committee can better inform itself on whether the State Department program should be renewed at the end of 2024. DailyMail.com reached out to the State Department for comment.
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