President Biden came under fire Thursday for setting up a “dystopian” misinformation bureau set up under his Homeland Security department, which critics see as just a way for the government to exercise control over online freedom of speech. Conservatives have criticized the Department of Homeland Security’s new Orwellian “Misinformation Governance Council” – with some suggesting the timeline is convenient, as Elon Musk has vowed to make Twitter a haven for free speech after the acquisition of the social media platform. with $ 44 billion notorious for selective censorship of right-wing views. Missouri Sen. Josh Howley has called the new board a “disgrace” designed to “monitor the speech of all Americans.” In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mallorca, Howley said he initially considered Wednesday’s announcement a “satire”. “Certainly no American government would ever use government power to judge its citizens’ speech on the First Amendment. “Unfortunately, I was wrong,” Hawley wrote. “Instead of protecting our borders or our American homeland, you have chosen to make policing the American language your priority.” Biden chose Nina Jankovic to chair the Interior Ministry’s Misinformation Governance Council. wiczipedia / Twitter Florida Republican nominee Dr. Willie J. Montague wrote on Twitter: “Is there anything more dystopian than a Federal Government-led misinformation board?” And Texas GOP MP Troy Nells said, “They did not need a ‘misinformation governance council’ until @elonmusk threatened to control their narrative.” Republican Congresswoman Lauren Bobert accused Democrats of spending “the last few weeks planting seeds for the backup plan in case the Twitter deal actually happened.” She called the news “dystopian” and said that the left “can not afford to let the truth be anything other than what they say.” The hashtag “Ministry of Truth” was also popular on Twitter as critics compared the new board to George Orwell’s novel “1984”. “Adolf Hitler had a Ministry of Truth. Joseph Goebbels had a Ministry of Truth. Joseph Stalin had a Ministry of Truth. “Joseph Biden has a Ministry of Truth,” Errol Weber, a GOP candidate in California, wrote on Twitter. Georgia MP Andrew Clyde added: “Biden’s dystopian misinformation governing council is seriously dangerous and completely unconstitutional. I urge Congress to investigate the DHS Department of Truth – NOW. “ The newly formed commission will target alleged misinformation targeting key vulnerabilities of Biden and Democrats, such as immigrants on the southern border, and will monitor and prepare for Russian misinformation threats as this year’s midterm elections approach. “The spread of misinformation can affect border security, the safety of Americans during disasters, and public confidence in our democratic institutions,” the ministry said in a statement. DHS said the council would “protect privacy, civil rights and civil liberties” as part of its mandate. Conservatives call the creation of the Misinformation Governance Council a “shame.” NY Post illustration The board will be chaired by Nina Jankowicz – a misinformation expert who has been criticized for repeatedly raising The Post’s report on Hunter Biden’s laptop. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she had no details about the role of the board or its executive director during Thursday’s press conference, but said President Biden supported the effort. “We know there has been a lot of misinformation out there about a number of issues – I mean, including COVID, for example, as well as elections and eligibility,” Psaki said. “But I will check and see if there are more details.” The backlash for the council came as the Biden government also unveiled an international “Declaration on the Future of the Internet” with 50 other countries on Thursday, which endorsed efforts to curb online “misinformation” and “harassment”. The document describes ideas for “recovering the promise of the Internet” and US officials have described it as an attempt to deal with practical countries such as China and Russia. In particular, it does not mention US domestic struggles for Internet freedom, such as the censorship of politically motivated news by private companies and the alleged illegal mass surveillance of government. The creation of the group comes amid the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk. Andrew Harnik / AP The term misinformation has been used to censor content that later gained widespread acceptance – such as The Post’s report on documents from Hunter Biden’s laptop, which Twitter blocked and Facebook pushed, and speculation that COVID-19 leaked by a Chinese lab, which Facebook had previously banned. US intelligence later found the script to be one of two “reasonable” theories of pandemic origin. The vague document does not describe a specific treatment for misinformation, but calls on governments to “[f]for greater exposure to diverse cultural and multilingual content, information and news on the internet “. “Exposure to diverse online content should contribute to a pluralistic public debate, encourage greater social and digital integration in society, strengthen resilience to misinformation and misinformation, and increase participation in democratic processes,” the document said. The new document is signed by many US allies, including the governments of France, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom, but the list does not include many of the larger but relatively poor republics, such as Brazil, India and Nigeria. Pakistan and the Philippines.
