Tag: censorship

Ministers accused of a cover up as it is revealed shadowy army unit DID spy on British critics of Covid lockdown policies

Ministers were accused of a cover-up last night after it was revealed that soldiers did secretly spy on British critics of the Government’s response to Covid.

The release of new documents contradict official assertions that a shadowy Army unit had only been monitoring foreign powers.

The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year that military operatives in the UK’s ‘information warfare’ brigade were part of a sinister scheme to keep a close eye on politicians and high-profile journalists who raised doubts about the pandemic response.

They compiled dossiers on public figures – such as ex-Minister David Davis, who questioned the modelling behind alarming death toll predictions, and The Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens – and reported their dissenting views back to No 10.

Documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch revealed the Government cells included the MoD’s 77th Brigade, which deploys ‘non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours of adversaries’.

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NewsGuard Is Selling Its Government-Funded Censorship Tool To Private Companies

The for-profit censorship giant NewsGuard is now selling its “Misinformation Fingerprints” technology to private companies to silence Americans’ speech — technology the federal government helped NewsGuard develop to the tune of nearly $750,000 in taxpayer funding. So while NewsGuard is now making headlines for trying to take down Elon Musk’s X, the bigger story concerns the federal government’s funding of the censorship-industrial complex.

NewsGuard launched a Thanksgiving-week attack on the social media company former known as Twitter, claiming some 200 ads from prominent advertisers appeared on feeds of users spreading lies about the Israel-Hamas war. Elon Musk returned fire, calling NewsGuard “a propaganda shop” that “uses these reports to pressure companies to buy their ‘fact-checking’ services.”

“It’s a profit over any principle model,” the X owner countered.

The verbal sparring between Musk and NewsGuard is likely to continue for some time, but the war on free speech being waged by NewsGuard extends much beyond X and is being subsidized by our tax dollars.

“In September 2021, NewsGuard was awarded a grant through the Small Business Innovation and Research program, which funds early-stage companies to develop products and technologies that can be helpful for government,” NewsGuard announced in its 2021 Social Impact Report. “Under the grant,” the report explained, “NewsGuard plans to further develop the Misinformation Fingerprints tool and test the effectiveness of the Fingerprints in detecting state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.”

Federal records show the Department of Defense funded the Small Business Innovation and Research program’s award of nearly $750,000 to NewsGuard for the further development and testing of the Misinformation Fingerprints tool. And according to NewsGuard’s 2021 Social Impact Report, its “Misinformation Fingerprints” catalog traced “762 false narratives,” “providing one-of-a-kind tracking seeds for the AI tools used by defense industry clients.”

By the following year, NewsGuard reported in its 2022 Social Impact Report that its “Misinformation Fingerprints” technology had accumulated 1,122 supposedly false narratives and been “deployed at scale” — including by social media companies. Since then, NewsGuard has highlighted the use of the Misinformation Fingerprints tool by social media companies “seeking to mitigate falsehoods on their platforms…”

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Inside The UN Plan To Control Speech Online

A powerful United Nations agency has unveiled a plan to regulate social media and online communication while cracking down on what it describes as “false information” and “conspiracy theories,” sparking alarm among free-speech advocates and top U.S. lawmakers.

In its 59-page report released this month, the U.N. Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) outlined a series of “concrete measures which must be implemented by all stakeholders: governments, regulatory authorities, civil society, and the platforms themselves.”

This approach includes the imposition of global policies, through institutions such as governments and businesses, designed to stop the spread of various forms of speech while promoting objectives such as “cultural diversity” and “gender equality.”

In particular, the U.N. agency aims to create an “Internet of Trust” by targeting what it calls “misinformation,” “disinformation,” “hate speech,” and “conspiracy theories.”

Examples of expression flagged to be stopped or restricted include concerns about elections, public health measures, and advocacy that could constitute “incitement to discrimination.”

Critics are warning that allegations of “disinformation” and “conspiracy theories” have increasingly been used by powerful forces in government and Big Tech to silence true information and even core political speech.

Just this month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee released a report blasting the “pseudoscience of disinformation.”

Among other concerns, the committee found this “pseudoscience” has been “weaponized” by what lawmakers refer to as the “Censorship Industrial Complex.”

The goal: silence constitutionally protected political speech, mostly by conservatives.

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Democrats Ignore The First Amendment With Censorship Demand Letter To X

A group of over 25 Democratic members of Congress have raised allegations against X, once again ignoring the First Amendment and calling for online censorship.

They assert that the company is both allowing and profiting from the dissemination of false and violent content, particularly regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

On Tuesday, these lawmakers, including notable figures such as Reps. Dan Goldman, Jamie Raskin, Jerry Nadler, Bennie Thompson, Katie Porter, and Adam Schiff, addressed a letter to Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, and Elon Musk, its owner.

We obtained a copy of the pressure letter for you here.

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Moderna Engaged in Covert Operations to Control Online Criticism of Vaccines

Moderna, known for its mRNA coronavirus vaccine, reportedly engaged in extensive surveillance and influence operations, attempting to remove criticism or pushback against its vaccine from online discourse.

UnHerd reports that Moderna, the biotech firm raised to prominence by its mRNA coronavirus vaccine, is now at the center of a complex and controversial situation. While it achieved a staggering $100 billion valuation during the pandemic, recent reports suggest the company ventured beyond pharmaceutical innovation into the world of surveillance and public influence.

According to the report from UnHerd, Moderna developed an intricate network of monitoring that it aimed to use to influence the public discourse on vaccines. Central to this operation is a collaboration with Public Good Projects (PGP), a drug industry-funded NGO, and former law enforcement officials, aimed at combating what the company considers to be vaccine misinformation. However, this initiative’s scope and methods have sparked significant concerns about the blurring lines between public health advocacy and corporate surveillance.

During the  pandemic, Moderna transformed almost overnight from a fledgling biotech firm to a household name, thanks to the widespread use of its mRNA vaccine. However, as the demand for vaccinations waned, so did Moderna’s earnings. In response, Moderna not only increased vaccine prices but also embarked on a marketing campaign to maintain its relevance in the public health sphere.

The company’s surveillance arm, led by Nikki Rutman, a former FBI analyst, monitors a vast array of mainstream and alternative media outlets. Utilizing advanced technology like Talkwalker’s “BlueSilk” AI, the team tracks vaccine-related conversations across millions of websites globally. High-risk alerts are raised for narratives that could potentially harm Moderna’s interests or bolster anti-vaccine sentiments.

This proactive approach to monitoring and influencing vaccine discourse extends to scrutinizing public figures like Elon Musk and Russell Brand. Moderna’s reporting on public figures’ comments on vaccines does not necessarily dispute their claims but flags them as misinformation if they are perceived to encourage vaccine hesitancy.

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NY Gov Hochul Sends Warning to Social Media Execs about “Encoded Hate”

After announcing increased state surveillance efforts allegedly searching for “hate speech” aimed at Jewish, Muslim and Arab populations on social media, New York Governor Kathy Hochul sent a letter to major social media companies on November 21. In this letter, she calls upon the companies to increase their efforts to monitor and intervene on the speech of individuals using their platforms. In particular, she calls for the companies to stop the spread of hate with “active attention and, as necessary, responsiveness to the changing ways that messages of hate are communicated, sometimes in coded language.” (emphasis added)

No specifics were given as to what “coded language” refers to. This point is not trivial, as it is easy to see hate almost anywhere and in anything once claims of a “code” are invoked. Under the guise of altruistic efforts to stop “hate speech,” Big Government is once again pushing itself across the sacred line the First Amendment holds for free speech and press. There has been no clear information from the governor on what the limits will be on these new interventions or what oversight will be implemented to prevent government overreach.

The governor also directed the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to develop and distribute a “media literacy toolkit” to help public school educators teach their students how to spot misinformation/disinformation/malinformation (“MDM”) online.

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Elon Musk Announces “Thermonuclear” Lawsuit Against Media Matters

In a bold statement issued early Saturday, Elon Musk announced his intention to take aggressive legal action against Media Matters, a non-profit organization that pushes for online censorship. He accused the group and its associates of grossly distorting the user experience on his social media platform, X.

Musk’s planned lawsuit, which he describes as “thermonuclear,” targets not only Media Matters but also “all those who colluded” with them.

Musk’s response comes in the wake of a Media Matters report published on Thursday.

The report alleged that on X, advertisements from prominent companies like Apple, Disney, factions of NBCUniversal, IBM, Oracle, and Comcast were being displayed alongside content promoting “antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

In a fiery critique, Musk condemned these allegations as a blatant attempt to tarnish X’s reputation. He asserted that such attacks stem from a broader agenda to suppress free speech.

Musk views the actions of Media Matters and similar groups as part of a concerted effort by certain activist organizations and legacy media to stifle the freedom of expression on X.

According to Musk, these entities perceive X as a significant threat to their ideological narratives and the interests of their financial backers.

Further, Musk highlighted the tactics used by these groups, which he claims involve manipulating advertisers on X through deceptive means. By doing so, they aim to jeopardize the platform’s revenue streams.

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TikTok will SCRUB videos of anti-Israel Gen-Zer’s fawning over Bin Laden’s vile 2002 ‘Letter to America’ because it ‘clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism’

TikTok has blasted users promoting a vile letter written by Osama Bin Laden in regards to the 9/11 atrocities and promised to remove any content referring to it.

‘Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism,’ TikTokPolicy wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

‘We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform.’

The video-sharing platform claims the number of videos on TikTok is ‘small’ and ‘reports of it trending [on the] platform is inaccurate.’  

‘This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media,’ the post added.

Bin Laden, who founded terror group Al-Qaeda with the aim of waging holy war on the western world, wrote a ‘Letter to America’ in 2002 to defend the motivation behind his murderous attack on mainland America that killed thousands of innocent people.

In the viral letter, bin Laden spews anti-American, anti-Semitic and anti-Western viewpoints, citing one of the main reasons for 9/11 being the US support for Israel.

At the time of writing, videos with the hashtag ‘LettertoAmerica’ have been viewed 7.3 million times. 

Extraordinarily the majority are claiming support for the twisted reasoning Bin Laden lays out without a thought for the freedoms he criticizes.

The letter began to gain traction online after UK newspaper The Guardian linked to a 2002 article which translated it in full in a piece about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

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Disinformation expert laments loss of power over speech on social media leading up to 2024 elections

Adisinformation expert is lamenting that social media platforms have less control over speech as the 2024 elections approach, while conservatives notch wins against the industry and the Department of Homeland Security’s calls for greater censorship.

This comes as the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released yet more evidence this week on nexus of the federal government, universities, and Big Tech that worked to censor Americans during the 2020 election. The House Judiciary Committee also held a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to increase censorship through the Election Integrity Partnership.

The new report by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) shows how former Big Tech employees and censorship experts are lamenting their shrinking influence as the presidential election approaches next year. Pressure from a Republican House and some journalists discourages the federal government from collaborating with the Big Tech companies as it did during the 2020 election. Some federal courts have weighed in, finding the collaboration unconstitutional.

“Yoel Roth has been on a public speaking tear, sounding alarms to fellow censorship industry insiders that they’ve lost the control over 2024 election speech they once had in 2020,” Mike Benz, executive director of FFO posted to X on Monday.

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5 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR THE ONLINE PRIVACY CRACKDOWN

The internet is about to change. In many countries, there’s currently a coordinated legislative push to effectively outlaw encryption of user uploaded content under the guise of protecting children. This means websites or internet services (messaging apps, email, etc.) could be held criminally or civilly liable if someone used it to upload abusive material. If these bills become law, people like myself who help supply private communication services could be penalized or put into prison for simply protecting the privacy of our users. In fact, anyone who runs a website with user-uploaded content could be punished the same way. In today’s article, I’ll show you why these bills not only fail at protecting children, but also put the internet as we know it in jeopardy, as well as why we should question the organizations behind the push.

Let’s quickly recap some of the legislation.

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