Former Biden Disinformation Czar Launches Group to Defend Online Censorship

Former Biden administration disinformation head Nina Jankowicz has launched a new organization to fight against conservative efforts to combat online censorship.

Jankowicz launched the American Sunlight Project this week to fight what she believes to be a campaign by conservatives to undermine the anti-disinformation industry. She co-founded the organization alongside Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos, a communications specialist who worked for left-wing group Protect Democracy during the 2020 election cycle.

The American Sunlight Project wrote a letter on Monday to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio.), Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), and Representative Dan Bishop (R., N.C.) accusing them of “McCarthyism” for investigating the disinformation industry and its pressure on social media platforms to censor speech.

“The Weaponization Committee has selectively released  congressional testimony to discredit them, make them targets of harassment, and create a chilling effect across the field of disinformation research. These tactics echo the dark days of McCarthyism, but with a 21st century twist,” the letter reads.

The House Subcommittee on Weaponization, chaired by Jordan, has been investigating the close relationship between federal agencies, disinformation nonprofits, and social-media platforms, particularly in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.

Disinformation nonprofits such as the Stanford Internet Observatory and the Center for Election Security coordinated alongside the DHS, FBI, CIA, State Department, and other government agencies to monitor certain kinds of speech on Facebook and Twitter during and after the 2020 election cycles, according to multiple reports compiled by the subcommittee.

This pattern of coordination first received national attention when a group of independent journalists released internal Twitter documents known as the “Twitter Files” shortly after billionaire and prolific Twitter user Elon Musk purchased the platform. Musk quickly fired top brass and instituted a series of changes to the platform to prevent censorship practices targeted at large conservative accounts. He rebranded the platform and changed its name to X last year.

The ability of social-media companies to partner with government agencies to restrict certain forms of speech is at issue in the landmark Murthy v. Missouri Supreme Court case set to be decided later this year.

Two years ago, Jankowicz rose to prominence when the Department of Homeland Security appointed her to lead its infamously short-lived disinformation governance board. Her past amplification of widespread falsehoods surrounding the discredited Russiagate scandal and the Hunter Biden laptop story severely diminished her credibility and lead to the DHS board folding only months after it started.

Most notably, Jankowicz endorsed the debunked letter in October 2020 by 51 former intelligence officials claiming, without evidence, the Hunter Biden laptop archive first reported by the New York Post was likely the product of Russian disinformation efforts. Facebook and Twitter censored the Hunter Biden laptop story and prevented it from being shared.

Testimony last year by one of the letter’s signatories, former senior CIA official Michael Morell, revealed the Biden campaign orchestrated the letter and its publication in Politico days before the final presidential debate between then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.

Federal investigators verified the contents of Biden’s laptop in late 2019 by cross-referencing it against his Apple iCloud server, according to special counsel David Weiss’ team of prosecutors and IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley. Numerous media organizations have independently verified the authenticity of the laptop archive.

After her brief DHS stint, Jankowicz registered as a foreign agent to work for a British disinformation think tank partially-funded by the U.K. government.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/former-biden-disinformation-czar-launches-group-to-defend-online-censorship/

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com/ (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

https://awesternheart.blogspot.com/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

*******************************