WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Congressman Roger Williams (TX-25), Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, released an interim staff report detailing the Committee’s 14-month investigation into the Global Engagement Center (GEC) for federally funded censorship of small domestic businesses.

In Case You Missed It:

“Embattled State Department office skirted mandate in funding ‘censorship’ groups: House GOP”

Washington Examiner

Gabe Kaminsky

September 10, 2024

An office housed within the State Department is faulted in a new congressional report with flouting its mandate to thwart foreign disinformation through its funding of groups engaged in “censorship” against small businesses in the United States.

“This interim report outlines how government agencies are working with the private sector to ensure that certain businesses do not have a fair chance to compete online,” said Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), who chairs the House Small Business Committee. “Even worse, this report uncovers how taxpayer dollars contributed to the censorship that picks winners and losers in the online marketplace.”

The 66-page report was prepared by investigators on the Republican-led House Small Business Committee. For over a year, the panel has sought sprawling funding records from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center on its programs fighting alleged disinformation and misinformation. That investigation began due to a series of Washington Examiner reports on the office bankrolling the Global Disinformation Index — a British group pressuring advertisers to defund right-of-center media outlets in the U.S.

The release of the report comes as the Global Engagement Center, which has an estimated budget of $61 million and a staff of 125, faces the potential to lose funding over GOP-led frustrations about its involvement with apparent domestic censorship groups. A provision through the annual State Department appropriations bill, which passed the House this summer and will be negotiated in the Senate, aims to ban future checks to the GEC. The office is also facing a lawsuit from conservative media outlets over the $100,000 the GEC sent to GDI and its support of a company called NewsGuard that rates the “misinformation” levels of news outlets.

Titled “Instruments and Casualties of the Censorship-Industrial Complex,” the House report argues the GEC promoted “tech start-ups and other small businesses in the disinformation detection space to private sector entities with domestic censorship capabilities.” Moreover, the report argues the National Endowment for Democracy, a State Department-funded nonprofit group that awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars to GDI, “violated its international restrictions by collaborating with fact-checking entities in assessing domestic press businesses’ admission to a credibility organization.”

Formed in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, the GEC works closely with the Defense Department, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies. Since 2019, the GEC’s Technology Engagement Division has regularly met with social media platforms, while the office awarded many direct and subaward grants to entities pushing U.S. fact-checking initiatives, the House report found.

These initiatives, the report said, demonstrated the ways in which the GEC skirted its international mandate. One such initiative was a secret group chat targeting conservatives over alleged “fake news,” the Washington Examiner confirmed.

---

Read More:

“House GOP expands Biden ‘censorship’ investigation over Washington Examiner ‘disinformation’ series.” (Gabe Kaminsky, “House GOP expands Biden ‘censorship’ investigation over Washington Examiner ‘disinformation’ series,” Washington Examiner, 06.07.2023)

“House Republicans demand grant records from federal agency that funded ‘disinformation’ tracker.” (Victor Nava, “House Republicans demand grant records from federal agency that funded ‘disinformation’ tracker,” NY Post, 06.07.2023)

“Biden State Department slammed for blowing ‘disinformation’ documents deadline: ‘No excuse.’” (Gabe Kaminsky, “Biden State Department slammed for blowing ‘disinformation’ documents deadline: ‘No excuse,’” Washington Examiner, 07.24.2023)

“Biden administration in hot seat for sending Congress ‘incomplete’ records for censorship investigation.” (Gabe Kaminsky, “Biden administration in hot seat for sending Congress ‘incomplete’ records for censorship investigation,” Washington Examiner, 01.09.2024)

“House Republicans: State Department Hiding Its Funding For Censorship-Industrial Complex.” (Shawn Fleetwood, “House Republicans: State Department Hiding Its Funding For Censorship-Industrial Complex,” The Federalist, 01.09.2024)

“State Department cash to train African journalists on ‘fact-checking’ sparks GOP criticism.” (Gabe Kaminsky, “State Department cash to train African journalists on ‘fact-checking’ sparks GOP criticism,” Washington Examiner, 05.16.2024)

“State Department hit with subpoena over ‘censorship-by-proxy.’” (Gabe Kaminsky, “State Department hit with subpoena over ‘censorship-by-proxy’,” Washington Examiner, 06.17.2024)

“Conservative blacklister GDI at center of House ‘censorship’ hearing.” (Gabe Kaminsky, “Conservative blacklister GDI at center of House ‘censorship’ hearing,” Washington Examiner, 06.26.2024)

“Democrat calls misinformation hearing an election distraction.” (Laruel Duggan, “Democrat calls misinformation hearing an election distraction,” UnHerd, 06.26.2024)

###