Gabe Kaminsky writes for the Washington Examiner about the federal government’s role in stifling conservative groups.
A nonprofit organization almost entirely funded by the State Department steered hundreds of thousands of dollars more to a “disinformation” monitor that is secretly blacklisting and taking steps to defund conservative media outlets, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
The Washington Examiner reported on Thursday that the National Endowment for Democracy, which received $300 million in taxpayer dollars in 2021, granted $230,000 in 2020 to the Global Disinformation Index’s U.S. nonprofit group. In 2021, the NED granted $315,750 to this same entity, which has been dubbed “Disinformation Index, Inc,” according to records.
The grant, which has not been reported on until now, was earmarked for GDI to “work with local partners in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America to assess disinformation risks of local online media ecosystems, employing artificial intelligence as well as expert review.”
“The resulting risk ratings will be used to raise awareness among advertising companies and trade bodies of the risks that arise from funding disinformation,” the grant description said. “Partners will also use the data and reports to drive national policy debates on trust in media and disinformation, and to work constructively with media outlets to improve the quality and rigor of their content.”
The NED, which has a board including Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Joaquin Castro (D-TX) that “controls” grantmaking, has continued to come under fire for bankrolling GDI. On Monday, multiple Republican lawmakers, such as Stefanik and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), slammed the State Department for its ties to the disinformation group.
“Yes, it should absolutely be defunded, and I agree with my colleagues Jim Banks and Mike McCaul that this is just another chilling example of the government weaponizing resources against their political opponents,” Stefanik told the Washington Examiner. “The State Department should not be funding woke organizations who seek to censor and demonetize conservative outlets. House Republicans will assert our oversight over the State Department’s funding of these type of groups.”
