Friday, March 29, 2024

Musk Cements Control of Twitter as DHS Efforts to Police ‘Disinformation’ Continue

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's takeover is now complete.

According to a securities filing, Musk became the sole director of Twitter this afternoon following a series of dramatic changes and proposals.

Musk told prospective investors last week that he's preparing to give pink slips to 75% of Twitter's 7,500 employees.

All nine members of Twitter's board are no longer directors, including recently fired CEO and Chairman Bret Taylor. The development is “in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement.”

In response, progressives have stepped up their complaints that Musk's takeover will lead to an explosion of .

However, a new report by The Intercept explains how social giants have been complying with a censorship operation inspired by the thought to be defunct Disinformation Governance Board.

The Intercept has more on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) effort, which DHS considers a growing part of its primary responsibilities as the War on Terror winds down:

THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public documents — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.

The work, much of which remains unknown to the American public, came into clearer view earlier this year when DHS announced a new “Disinformation Governance Board”: a panel designed to police (false information spread unintentionally), disinformation (false information spread intentionally), and malinformation (factual information shared, typically out of context, with harmful intent) that allegedly threatens U.S. interests. While the board was widely ridiculed, immediately scaled back, and then shut down within a few months, other initiatives are underway as DHS pivots to monitoring social media now that its original mandate — the war on terror — has been wound down.

Behind closed doors, and through pressure on private platforms, the U.S. government has used its power to try to shape online discourse. According to meeting minutes and other records appended to a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican who is also running for , discussions have ranged from the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse to the mechanics of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.

The report goes on to further explain that while DHS Secretary terminated the Disinformation Governance Board on Aug. 24 of this year, its underlying work remains very much alive.

According to a review of government documents, DHS is especially concerned about information pertaining to “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”

The Intercept continues:

There is also a formalized process for government officials to directly flag content on Facebook or Instagram and request that it be throttled or suppressed through a special Facebook portal that requires a government or law enforcement email to use. At the time of writing, the “content request system” at facebook.com/xtakedowns/login is still live. DHS and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

Meanwhile, some on the left continue to claim that Elon Musk's Twitter reign will herald the end of American democracy.

READ NEXT: Will Putin Attack Elon Musk's Starlink Mini-Satellite System Aiding Ukraine? >>

Patrick Houck
Patrick Houck
Patrick Houck is an avid political enthusiast based out of the Washington, D.C. metro area. His expertise is in campaigns and the use of targeted messaging to persuade voters. When not combing through the latest news, you can find him enjoying the company of family and friends or pursuing his love of photography.

7 COMMENTS

  1. What the government considers misinformation is merely whispers of the truth regarding what our information overlords are actually doing. You go, Elon! Open up the conversation so that the truth will set us free.

  2. Is the DHS policing all of bidens bs comments? Biden tells the country bs every day?

    Is the dhs pol8cing the fake intruder story from the pelosi’s? There are no intruders who break into houses in their underwear. The pelosi’s do not have hammer laying around their mansion, the pelosi’s do have scattered proof windows. The pelosis do have state of the art security. The story is bs. Dhs needs to go after the disinformation.

    Is the dhs going to go after the cdc for recommending the covid vaccine for children when they know there has been no testing done at all. Which means no reason to believe it is safe for children
    .

    Is the dhs going after garland for claiming he is not going after parents when clearly he is?

    Are they going after mayorkas, kamala, biden and the press secretary for claiming the border is secure?

    Since there have already been three democrat states found cheating in the current election is the dhs going to go after news stations that claimed the elections are clean and secure?

    Yeah I bet the democrat run dhs will not go after any of those disinformation sources.

    • I don’t see any way the Dems or Pelosi’s can spin this story to their advantage, so I don’t see the false flag. They and the media are attempting to keep the truth under wraps, but truth has a way of leaking out despite their best efforts.

  3. So the U.S. government is deeply involved in unconstitutional actions not only against the second amendment but against the first amendment as well. That is very disturbing and further illustrates our government’s further descent into tyranny and fascism. The complicity of social media’s actions in manipulating elections is equally or even more disturbing. We must see monumental changes following the midterms or all is lost.

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