This is part of a Washington Examiner series on self-styled ‘disinformation’ tracking groups that are blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media. Here is where you can read other stories in the series.
EXCLUSIVE — A dozen Republican members of Congress are demanding answers from the State Department over it bankrolling a “disinformation” tracking group that the Washington Examiner revealed is blacklisting and trying to shut down conservative websites.
Republicans have continued to press Secretary of State Antony Blinken over two State Department-backed entities, the Global Engagement Center and the National Endowment for Democracy, granting $665,000 between 2020 and 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index. Led by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), 12 lawmakers sent a Saturday letter to Blinken that requested grant information and why the agency funded a “foreign organization that polices and suppresses domestic American information.”
STATE DEPARTMENT MISSES DEADLINE TO PROVIDE INFO ON CONSERVATIVE BLACKLISTS
“These grants have real world implications, chilling freedom of expression and speech with impunity,” the Republicans wrote. “For example, considering the Energy Department and FBI’s new determination that the Coronavirus most likely arose from a Wuhan lab leak, this taxpayer funded British outfit pressured advertising companies to ‘punish’ websites that dared to report on the entirely legitimate lab leak theory.”
GDI, a British organization with two linked U.S. nonprofit groups, compiles a “dynamic exclusion list” with at least 2,000 sites it deems to be the foremost disinformation peddlers. The Washington Examiner learned exclusively that it is on this list, which advertising companies subscribe to in order to choose which sites to defund.
Separately, GDI has said that the 10 “riskiest” news sites are the Federalist, the American Conservative, the Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, the New York Post, and other right-leaning outlets.
Most of the State Department-linked money handed to GDI came from the National Endowment for Democracy, which is funded almost entirely through congressional appropriations. Between 2020 and 2021, NED granted roughly $545,000 to GDI for it to develop disinformation “risk ratings” in foreign countries.
However, NED announced last month that it will no longer support GDI in order “to avoid the perception” that it’s working on “any work domestically, directly or indirectly,” since it focuses on foreign matters. Still, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which granted $100,000 to GDI in 2021 as part of the U.S. Paris Tech Challenge, a program to fight “disinformation” overseas, has not made a similar commitment.
In their Saturday letter, the Republicans asked the State Department whether it finds it “appropriate for a de facto foreign organization or individual to police” U.S. media outlets. They listed a March 30 deadline for all questions.
“How does funding efforts to counter ‘disinformation’ by a foreign agent in the amount of $665,000, through the two State Department-backed entities named herein, advance America’s national security and diplomatic interests?” asked the lawmakers.
The lawmakers also questioned the State Department over whether it was “involved or consulted” in connection to GDI’s various analyses of alleged disinformation, including a Dec. 16, 2022, report titled “Disinformation Risk Assessment: The Online News Market in the United States.” The December report notably included GDI’s lists of the “riskiest” and “least riskiest” news outlets.
In addition, Clyde and the Republicans want to know whether the State Department was directed to fund GDI by President Joe Biden, the White House, ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Democratic National Committee, or any government official.
Co-signers of the letter were Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Bill Posey (FL), Rep. George Santos (R-NY), Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL).
“Federal agencies should never weaponize taxpayer dollars to fund government-by-proxy censorship efforts,” Clyde told the Washington Examiner. “Given the alarming evidence of nefarious activity by this State Department-backed group, Congress must demand answers and fully investigate the matter to provide accountability to the American people.”
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“It’s time for Secretary Blinken to be transparent about the State Department’s involvement and knowledge of the GDI’s dangerous blacklisting and censorship efforts so we can ensure this violation of Americans’ First Amendment freedoms never happens again,” he added.
The letter to Blinken comes one day after the State Department missed a deadline request by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) for documents in connection to GDI grants. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman demanded on Feb. 23 that the department turn over information by end-of-day March 9.
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee told the Washington Examiner that the department is “working on identifying and producing documents.” However, the committee will “continue to press” the agency for answers, said the spokesperson.
