Tag: social media

Covert Pentagon propagandists are tracking anti-war Americans, skirting the law

In mid-August, a conservative activist using the digital moniker “Datarepublican” quietly admitted she was employed by the Pentagon as a “special government employee.” For months, she’d been pocketing a government paycheck while intensely lobbying for President Trump’s imperialist misadventures online and tracking their most vocal critics in a digital database.

Datarepublican was identified in 2025 as Jennica Pounds, a Utah-based mother with nearly a million followers whose stated raison d’etre is “fighting communists” – a moniker she applies liberally to anyone perceptibly to the left of Barry Goldwater.

And she’s not alone. Pounds has emerged as the face of a new wave of right-wing influencers who are being covertly employed by the US Department of War to spread pro-government propaganda. On August 29th, Washington Post reporters revealed at least three more digital activists are surreptitiously working for the Pentagon, which designates them as either special government employees (SGEs) or as what the US military calls “highly qualified experts” (HQEs).

Named in the Pentagon’s army of influencers were retired Air Force colonel Rob Maness, and retired Army colonels Kurt Schlichter and Thomas Anderson. Like Pounds, Anderson also operated in relative anonymity until recently, posting under the Twitter handle “Cynical Publius.” Schlicter, for his part, is a prolific right-wing troll who has frequently fantasized about the ethnic cleansing and extermination of Palestinians.

The operation appears to be in breach of two federal laws, the Hatch Act and the Smith-Mundt Act, which prohibit government employees from engaging in political activities while on the clock, and forbid them from directing their propaganda efforts at the US population, respectively.

The aforementioned right-wing activists are the only ones known to have been working secretly for the Department of War. But the revelations about paid Pentagon propaganda posters come as the US military pursues a flurry of murky partnerships with prominent conservative influencers like top TPUSA widow Erika Kirk, who was appointed to the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors by Trump in March in an effort to further slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s “legacy.”

Then there’s Laura Loomer, the obsessively anti-Muslim Trump ally, who is producing de facto press releases for self-proclaimed “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, enjoying Pentagon press credentials, and earning references as an “informal advisor to the Department of War.”

Keep reading

Carnegie Mellon University Associate Professor Under Fire for Disturbing Anti-White Social Media Posts

Uju Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University, is under fire for social media posts attacking White people, and this isn’t the first time.

The Gateway Pundit reported that Anya took to social media to also suggest that the attempted assassination of President Trump was a ” staged ” shooting and the shooter was part of a “stupid show.”

Anya also attacked Charlie Kirk following his murder.

According to Newsweek:

One of the latest flashpoints involves Uju Anya, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who referred to Kirk as a “s***bag” and said she hoped he would “rot in p***” while participating in online “Kirkiversary” posts marking the anniversary of the conservative commentator’s death.

As criticism mounted, users also resurfaced a number of Anya’s older posts, including a 2021 exchange in which she allegedly told another user, “Die first, white man,” as well as earlier comments celebrating the death of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

The recent controversy she has found herself in is a video in which she declares, “These f*cking racist white supremacist pedophile assh*les will not win.”

Keep reading

Bipartisan House Bill Would Ban Social Media Accounts For Under 16s

Two US House of Representatives members, one from each of the dominant parties, have introduced a bill to ban under-16s from having accounts on “addictive” social media.

And if an account is discovered to belong to an under-16, the proposal, dubbed the 16 & Up Social Media Act, seeks to cut them off from their online speech, by having the account terminated.

The bill was introduced by Erin Houchin, a Republican from Indiana, and Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on September 11, 2026, and has the support of psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who said that the goal is “to stop addictive design entirely.”

The bill covers services that are available to the general public, have searchable and followable usernames, and where user generated content is the primary purpose. These platforms must also allow users to share content, have features that promote engagement, and use personal information for advertising, marketing, or recommendations.

Specific features that are targeted include infinite scroll, autoplay, push alerts, usage-based badges, and personalized recommendations.

As for the way the bill seeks to achieve its goal, it would require companies to “know” a user is under 16, and delete that account. But on page 11, the text states that “knows” means “to know or should have known.”

That opens the door to pressuring companies to investigate the age of their users, or shut them out if there’s doubt. Adults who are flagged would then have to challenge the decision. The bill does not explicitly require government ID uploads for every user, nor does it prescribe a specific age-checking technology.

The bill would have to be passed and then have its provisions come into force in order to start affecting users and companies, but if that happens, existing accounts would have to be identified within 60 days of enactment, users notified within 180 days of enactment, and accounts removed within 30 days of that notification.

Keep reading

Police show up at Tanya Gaw’s door over ‘hate speech’

Tanya Gaw, co-founder of Action4Canada, says two police officers arrived at her home to inform her she was under investigation for the “willful promotion of hate” under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, with no evidence to support the complaint.

The exchange, captured on video, was discussed at length on Friday’s Rebel Roundup livestream by Sheila Gunn Reid and Drea Humphrey, who said the encounter was both alarming and emblematic of a double standard in how hate-related complaints are pursued by police.

In the recording, an officer identifying himself as Constable Mason told Gaw the complaint concerns material posted to her website and social media accounts that he said specifically target Muslims and Islam. Gaw pushed back, telling the officer everything on her site is factual and carefully researched, and asked for a letter detailing the specific posts in question before agreeing to speak further.

Drea said Gaw has a track record of choosing her words carefully, noting she is currently facing an unrelated lawsuit from a drag queen and, in that case too, was measured in what she actually said publicly.

“She really didn’t even say the things. Like she was very careful in her wording,” Drea said.

The hosts also noted the officer’s appearance and manner during the exchange, joking that he did not initially strike them as a credible authority figure.

“Why does that cop look like during the pandemic when Justin Trudeau was giving press conferences on the steps of Rideau Cottage?” Sheila said.

Beyond the tone of the encounter, the hosts questioned why police would investigate Gaw’s website while, in their view, taking no similar action against other public figures who have made inflammatory comments. They pointed to remarks made by Harsha Walia, former executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, after a string of church fires several years ago.

“And when the churches first started burning, she said, burn it all down. Did any police go to her door? No, of course not,” Sheila said.

Drea said the pattern raises broader concerns about who is targeted for scrutiny and who is not.

“I wonder how many police are going to the doors of people posting hateful things against Christians. That’s happening all the time,” Drea said.

Rebel News intends to follow up directly with Gaw for more detail on the investigation.

Keep reading

Husted Campaign Fires Political Director Over Nazi, Rhodesia Posts

Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign fired its political director Friday after The Washington Post asked about the director’s social media accounts, which included a Facebook profile photo of Nazi SS troops and a Spotify playlist devoted to white-ruled Rhodesia.

Stephen Woytek, 25, had been hired by the Ohio Republican’s campaign in August.

“Steve serves our country honorably as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army and is a proud graduate of The Citadel. He studies military history and routinely reenacts historical battles. While he denies negative intent, his social media activity displays a complete lack of judgement and disregard for its impact on others,” a spokesperson said.

“Sen. Husted demands better of those who represent him.

“Upon learning about the social media posts today, Sen. Husted made the immediate decision to part ways.”

The Post reported that Woytek changed his Facebook profile photo in 2018 to an image of soldiers from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler division holding captured Soviet banners. The photo was still publicly visible Friday.

His Spotify account included a public playlist titled “Tales From Rhodesia,” described as “homesick for a place that no longer exists,” with tracks including “Rhodesians Never Die.” Songs were added as recently as August. The playlist was made private Friday.

Woytek said his interest in the period was historical.

“I want to be unequivocal: I reject the racist and antisemitic ideology the SS and Nazi Germany represented,” he said in a statement to the newspaper.

Woytek said he takes part in historical reenactments because “I believe it is important to educate our younger generations,” and acknowledged he should have “exercised better judgment when posting about my activities online.”

He did not answer the newspaper’s questions about the Rhodesia playlist. The campaign did not say whether it had reviewed his accounts before hiring him.

Rhodesia, the white-minority government that ruled what is now Zimbabwe until 1980, has become a symbol among white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which cautions that its imagery alone is not evidence of extremist beliefs.

The gunman who killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 called himself “the last Rhodesian.”

Woytek graduated from The Citadel in 2024 and serves in the National Guard. He previously worked as a legislative aide to state Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, a Perrysburg Republican.

It was the second departure from the campaign in two months.

Andrew Havas, Husted’s volunteer Franklin County chair, resigned in July after NBC News asked about a 2008 charge of sexual misconduct with a minor that was reduced to misdemeanor assault under a plea deal.

Husted, appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 to the seat Vice President JD Vance gave up, faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown in the Nov. 3 special election. The contest is widely considered a toss-up.

Keep reading

Now They Think Babies Can Be Racist…

A woman sat in front of a camera this week and told the internet she had witnessed a “racist baby”…

Not a joke account. Not a sketch. A straight-faced lecture about an infant who looked at someone for a few seconds – and, in her telling, revealed the original sin of race hatred barely out of the womb.

The woman declares that “watching children mirror racist behavior is WILD.” She describes a baby staring at her ‘friend of colour’, the mother looking stricken, and then announces that the child is “literally mimicking” hostility toward “black and brown people.”

She also flashes a 2012 Science Daily headline as if it were a conviction.

This is the new priesthood. A baby looks at a black person and the verdict is racism.

Anyone who has any experience at all with babies knows they stare. At glasses. At beards. At bald heads, bright coats, dogs, ceiling fans, and their own hands. They are cataloguing the world with amazement, not forming a manifesto.

Keep reading

FOIA Records Appear To Reveal Kash Patel’s Priority Is Tracking Down His Critics

Records appear to reveal that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel has made tracking down his critics a priority.

The FOIA records appear to show Patel directing his team on Feb. 5 to identify social media accounts criticizing him and respond to them.

The directive was contained in a text exchange between Patel and the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, included in the latest tranche of records released by the government as part of its review of materials related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The directive was contained in a text exchange between Patel and the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, included in the latest tranche of records released by the government as part of its review of materials related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (RELATED: ‘Not Going To Take This Laying Down’: Kash Patel Announces Move Against Media Hit Piece)

In the exchange, Patel appeared focused on the reach of posts criticizing him and shared an account with his public affairs assistant director (AD) to examine. The aide characterized the account as an “‘Epstein didn’t kill himself bot account,’” while offering Patel an explanation: “if you are wondering where it’s coming from.”

Patel pushed back on the suggestion that the engagement was largely bot-generated, arguing that the account’s reach represented genuine attention. “277k responses are not bots,” Patel wrote.

He then reminded the aide that he had specifically instructed his team to identify the accounts behind the criticism and engage with them by highlighting the FBI’s accomplishments. “What I asked you and your team to do is find them, and post our record year results back at them all, continuously,” Patel wrote, before asking whether the aide had “been doing that.”

The aide appeared to distinguish between the number of responses and the post’s overall visibility, explaining that the engagement Patel cited did not necessarily translate into meaningful reach. “That’s views – it’s 400 responses; a real visible tweet gets 5x that,” the aide wrote.

Keep reading

Australia: Officials Ask Parliament to Restrict Social Media Clips of Public Hearing Evidence

Just when you thought Australia’s steamrolling toward censorship couldn’t get any worse, the heads of Australian government departments want new limits on how members of parliament share recordings of officials testifying at public parliamentary hearings.

A new attempt to this end was made last week by the Secretaries Board, made up of the heads of Australia’s government departments. The board is currently chaired by Steven Kennedy, secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which advises the prime minister and coordinates policy across the government.

The proposal was contained in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Parliamentary Standards.

The board is unhappy that politicians are using excerpts of the footage from these hearings, often to criticize the officials, and sometimes to ridicule them, by editing the clips and adding captions to highlight certain parts of the testimony.

Comments left on social media under these posts are also a major concern for the board, as they can be “highly offensive” – and sometimes even defamatory.

As examples, the board cites personal attacks on officials’ physical appearance (especially if they are women), their integrity, as well as comparisons to “Nazis, pedophiles, and other criminal offenders.”

Some of the “highlights” of the comments mentioned in the submission include “despicable,” “filth,” “political puppet,” “bigot,” “pig,” “KKK member,” “parasite,” “shill,” “criminal,” “fraud,” “clown,” and “lying corrupt grub.”

The board wants parliament to come up with “guidance” on how to use these recordings on social media, and lists several ways to do it, such as preventing “potentially harmful” use of committee evidence, and requiring that a link to the full hearing or transcript is provided whenever an extract of an official’s testimony is posted.

Another idea is to have MPs disable comments on social media when they post these clips, and make sure that the full, unedited version of the hearing, or the transcript, is made available instead of extracts.

Reporting on the submission described full hearings and transcripts as the preferred approach, with fallback restrictions on editing, captions and posts targeting individual officials.

The submission said that officials appearing at these public hearings “have not consented to a subsequent use of their image, or its use by parliamentarians and their political parties for party-political purposes.”

And the board also complained of “the increasing use of excerpts from committee proceedings on social media, particularly where material is presented without context and exposes officials to ridicule, hostility or abuse.”

The proposal was rejected by Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May, who said that bureaucrats should not be allowed to decide how parliamentarians do their job, and that the proposed restrictions would be an attempt to “take the teeth out of parliamentary scrutiny.”

“Bureaucrats shouldn’t get to decide where to draw the line on parliamentary scrutiny, particularly when they’re the ones being scrutinised,” Hodgins-May said. “Restricting what parliamentarians can post from public proceedings is not the answer. This looks like an attempt to take the teeth out of parliamentary scrutiny. Frankly, if this scrutiny wasn’t having an impact, they wouldn’t be so worried about it.”

But the board’s proposal is not the first of its kind. In fact, the previous week, Celia Perkins, deputy secretary of Australia’s Department of Defence, made a similar request to a parliamentary hearing, asking that the committee prevent MPs from sharing video and audio of officials appearing at public hearings on social media.

Perkins said that public servants giving evidence “do not consent to the reposting of our evidence to social media sites or the reproduction of our likenesses for the purposes outside the framework of the parliament and the transparent public proceedings of this committee.”

However, the Senate committee rejected the request on the advice of the Senate clerk.

Professor Luke Beck from the Monash University Law School, who specializes in constitutional law, believes that the latest proposal may be unconstitutional because it would likely violate the implied freedom of political communication in the Australian Constitution by “directly and expressly” burdening political communication.

Keep reading

More than 60,000 arrested in ‘chilling curb of free speech’ as damning report exposes zealous policing of social media as ‘Orwellian mess’

A major free speech row erupted last night after it was revealed that more than 60,000 people have been arrested over the past five years for ‘communications offences’ – some as trivial as viewing disparaging TikTok videos.

The astonishing figure has been described as ‘Orwellian’, and having a ‘chilling effect’ in stifling opinions online.

The statistics – to be published in a hard-hitting report this week – also highlight the chaotic implementation of rules on ‘malicious’ messaging, with some police forces making 14 times more arrests under the powers than others. 

The report, by campaign group Big Brother Watch, discloses that at least 62,199 people in the UK have been arrested for such offences over the past half-decade, with 18,510 being charged and 12,292 convicted.

Campaigners say that although a proportion of the arrests will be justifiable – such as intervention to stop threatening messages from abusive partners in domestic violence cases – the scope of the laws has spawned a rash of over-zealous policing of everyday communications.

The report cites the case of West Midlands Police visiting the home of a vulnerable teenage girl to accuse her over a TikTok post containing a teacher’s image with negative comments. 

They demanded that the girl hand over all her devices and either attend a voluntary interview or face arrest – even though she had not created, shared or commented on the video.

The investigation later concluded with the child formally told that no further action was taken. The force defended their actions on the grounds that they were ‘investigating alleged malicious communications offences’.

Writing in today’s Mail On Sunday, Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: ‘Why are the authorities spending so much time policing our tweets when they could be policing our streets?

‘Shoplifting, mobile phone theft and sexual offences are all on the rise, yet the police seem increasingly obsessed with catching thought criminals.

‘The sheer number of people being arrested for online offences, even though only one in five end up being convicted, cannot help but have a chilling effect on free speech. 

‘People up and down the country daren’t say what they think about a whole range of issues for fear they’ll get a knock on their door at four in the morning by a couple of plainclothes officers wearing rainbow lanyards.’

Last year, a Hertfordshire couple were arrested after they made complaints about their daughter’s primary school on a WhatsApp group chat.

Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen were held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications. 

They later received £20,000 in damages following a public outcry. 

Keep reading

Ilhan Omar Tries to ‘Honor’ American Workers By Sharing a Goofy Photo of Herself Inside a Semi-Truck and It Blows Up in Her Face

Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) got nuked in the social media comments after a pathetic attempt to pander to American workers on Labor Day.

In an effort to pretend to honor America’s workers, Omar shared a photo of herself inside a Teamsters Union semi-truck.

Considering how many foreign nationals have killed Americans while driving these vehicles, this was an interesting decision on her part.

“America is only as strong as the labor that builds it every day,” Omar wrote in the post accompanying the photo. “Happy Labor Day.”

Omar attempted to prevent a roasting by turning the comments off her post. But social media users still found a way to ensure she regretted posing for the image.

Keep reading