'A Big World Of Hurt': Mark Alford Warns Of 'Back Door' To Censorship In The US

3 months ago

Prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) questioned witnesses during a House Small Business Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00Representative Alford from the great state of Missouri for five minutes. Thank you, Chair,

00:04and thank you for holding this all-important meeting, and thank you, Ranking Member Velazquez,

00:09as well. The First Amendment is at the heart of what makes this country great. The right,

00:15the freedom of speech, the prohibition on government infringement is what separates

00:20our country from the rest of the world. However, the Biden administration does not agree with this.

00:26This administration has been using the power of the executive branch to infringe upon America's

00:32right to freedom of speech. While the First Amendment prevents direct government intervention,

00:38the administration has found a backdoor by finding and supporting so-called disinformation

00:44organizations. There have been more than 500 U.S. federal government contracts or grants awarded on

00:51disinformation since 2020. This funding has been used to build a network of government-backed

00:58nonprofits, so-called fact-checkers, organizations, and foundations to push

01:03the left-wing narrative by declaring anything right of The New York Times is disinformation.

01:10And they have been successful in doing this. As revealed in an email from a

01:14meta-executive to Mark Zuckerberg, quote, we are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders,

01:20including the White House, to remove more COVID-19 vaccine discouragement content.

01:25If the federal government is successful in moving companies as large as Meta

01:30with a market cap well over $1 trillion, what can they do to small businesses?

01:37I was in the news business for 35 years.

01:42My goal was to tell the truth. And when we have organizations like this that are coming in

01:48and telling us what the truth is and limiting the truth from getting out, we are in a

01:53big world of hurt when it comes to the First Amendment. Ms. Yunus, one of the most disturbing

01:59aspects of government-backed censorship was the State Department's support of the Global

02:03Disinformation Index, or GDI. The GDI's mission is to catalyze industry and government to defund

02:09disinformation. Can you please explain the legal basis upon which your clients brought the case

02:15against the State Department and its Global Engagement Center?

02:18There are three main claims. First of all, it's a First Amendment violation because by funding

02:23and working with the Global Disinformation Index, which is effectively blacklisting conservative

02:28news sites or disfavored news sites, the government is interfering in the marketplace of ideas and

02:35effectively censoring our clients. It has to go through a couple of levels. It's not direct.

02:45Through these mechanisms. And that's what makes it insidious and has been allowing them to get

02:49away with it. It's also a problem because the GEC is supposed to be fighting, their mandate is to

02:54fight foreign disinformation. They operate under the State Department, which is about foreign

02:58affairs. They're not supposed to be dealing with domestic speech. And they don't even pretend.

03:03For instance, there was a presentation, which you can look at online, in which the GEC's technology

03:10and engagement representative, Alexis Frisbee, said that they were having conversations to ensure

03:16there's discussion occurring. So I think, you know, those are in terms of interaction that's

03:19talking about at a domestic level. They're not even pretending this is about foreign disinformation

03:23anymore. Mr. Weingarten, NewsGuard is another left-wing organization supposedly ranking

03:28disinformation in the news. Let me tell you, just because you have news in your title doesn't mean

03:33you're a news organization or you're fit to call what are balls and strikes in the news business.

03:38We have dealt with them on the Armed Services Committee. We're getting them out of the business

03:41of regulating speech for the DOD. It doesn't only decide which source of media are not

03:49disinformation. They also have partnered with the largest teachers union in the world to teach

03:52students about disinformation. What does NewsGuard's partnership with the American

03:56Federation of Teachers, a top donor to President Biden, mean for center-right news?

04:01I think it means that the American children are going to get a left-wing or left-wing oriented

04:08diet of news content going forward to the extent the relationship persists and what's called media

04:14literacy education increasingly gets mandated in states across the country. How much of a

04:19danger are organizations like NewsGuard to the foundations and principles of America?

04:23I think they pose an existential threat. It would be illiberal for them to exist even

04:32if they weren't government funding, but the government funding makes it particularly chilling

04:36and disturbing. This is a very, very disturbing issue that we're dealing with in all realms

04:42of government right now and the committees on which we serve. This is of utmost importance

04:47because if you cannot get information that is unfiltered and the truth to people, we are going

04:53to be brainwashed into a liberal woke broke ideal of what America truly is. Thank you and I yield back.

'A Big World Of Hurt': Mark Alford Warns Of 'Back Door' To Censorship In The US

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