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Opinion


IN THE NAME OF ‘FAKE NEWS,’ NEWSGUARD EXTORTS SITES TO FOLLOW THE GOVERNMENT
NARRATIVE

By Lee Fang

Published Dec. 10, 2023, 12:50 p.m. ET


Half a century ago, George Orwell, writing on literary censorship, wrote that
“unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the
need for any official ban.”

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That dynamic now broadly extends to an opaque network of government agencies and
self-proclaimed anti-misinformation groups that have repressed online speech.

There’s no official ban on discussing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines or
criticizing American involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, but editors and
journalists have realized that writing on such topics can come at a cost. 

News publishers have been demonetized and shadow-banned for reporting dissenting
views and the bureaucratic means for enforcing this form of control are under
increasing scrutiny. 

NewsGuard, a for-profit company that scores news websites on trust and works
closely with government agencies and major corporate advertisers, exemplifies
the problem. 

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NewsGuard, a for-profit company with ties to the government, rates websites on
their trustworthiness as news sources.

The startup was founded in 2018 and quickly gained favor among establishment
voices concerned with “fake news.”

NewsGuard’s core business is a misinformation meter, in which websites are rated
on a scale of 0 to 100 on a variety of factors, including headline choice and
whether a site publishes “false or egregiously misleading content.”

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Such an endeavor might appear as an objective public service, but the devil is
in the details.


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Editors who have engaged with NewsGuard have found that the company has made
bizarre demands that unfairly tarnish an entire site as untrustworthy for
straying from the official narrative. 

The Daily Sceptic, a libertarian-leaning British site, is one such example. In a
series of emails over the last two years, editor Toby Young reached out to
NewsGuard, hoping to improve the Daily Sceptic’s 74.5 rating.

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NewsGuard took issue with the website’s criticism of lockdowns, calling them
“unnecessary, ineffective and harmful,” and cited academic literature on the
topic.


SEE ALSO


US STATE DEPARTMENT FUNDS CENSORSHIP FIRMS THAT FAVOR LEFT-WING MEDIA, NY POST
ON ‘RISKY’ LIST: LAWSUIT

Young went so far as to add postscripts to his articles, relaying the issues
raised by the fact-checkers and providing additional information. 

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For his good-faith interactions, Young was rewarded with a downgrade. NewsGuard
updated his rating to 37.5 on its scale.

NewsGuard wanted nothing other than a retraction of the articles they objected
to, despite the fact that further research has documented the harmful effects of
lockdowns.

It was an experience that other publishers have echoed. 

The ratings are not just a scarlet letter, but a cudgel to coerce conformity.

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NewsGuard works closely with corporate advertisers and the data-brokers that
serve as the backbone of the online ecosystem.

One of its largest investors is the Publicis Groupe, a French conglomerate that
is the largest marketing agency in the world.

Biden’s administration considers misinformation a threat to the U.S. AP

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In an email to one of its government clients, NewsGuard touted that its ratings
system of websites is used by advertisers, “which will cut off revenues to fake
news sites.”

But perhaps the greatest danger is posed by NewsGuard’s extensive ties to the
government. Internal documents I obtained through the “Twitter Files” show that
the founders of NewsGuard privately pitched the firm to clients as a tool to
engage in content moderation on an industrial scale, applying artificial
intelligence to take down certain forms of speech.

The proposal noted that the service is already used by “intelligence and
national security officials,” “reputation management providers” and “government
agencies.”

There is little hope that the Biden administration, which has labeled online
misinformation as a national security threat, will reverse course. Hope may be
found in the courts.

Earlier this year, Consortium News, a left-leaning site, charged in a lawsuit
that NewsGuard’s serves as a proxy for the military to engage in censorship.

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The lawsuit brings attention to the Pentagon’s $749,387 contract with NewsGuard
to identify “false narratives” regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia,
among other forms of foreign influence.

Consortium News has published thousands of articles, but NewsGuard went after
just a few columns about neo-Nazi elements in the Ukrainian military and U.S.
influence over the Ukrainian government – issues raised by many credible news
outlets – and demanded retractions. 

And this week, conservative-leaning sites The Federalist and the Daily Wire,
along with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, are bringing a far more sweeping
suit against the government.

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The lawsuit claims that the State Department’s Global Engagement Center financed
firms such as NewsGuard in an attempt to create a “blacklist” of targeted sites
that criticize government positions while steering readers to “news
organizations that publish favored viewpoints.”

What do you think? Post a comment.

The attorneys for the case note that the agency is acting under explicit
statutory authority to only counter foreign propaganda, and is forbade from
turning inwards and “countering Americans’ speech.”

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The issue may rest, ultimately, with a decision from the Supreme Court. Next
year, the high court is scheduled to take up Missouri v. Biden, a sweeping case
that will decide how and when the government can step in to shape content
decisions on social media platforms.

The Louisiana judge who first ruled on the subject noted that the federal
government appears to have “assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of
Truth,” a role that is plainly not in the constitution. 

Investigative journalist Lee Fang writes at leefang.com


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Filed under censorship ,  Coronavirus ,  journalists ,  supreme court ,  ukraine
war ,  12/10/23
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