Elon Musk Names Obscure Agency as “Worst Offender” in U.S. Government Censorship

Elon Musk might not be British but he certainly has the tea, and today, it’s piping hot.

On Monday, the Twitter mogul posted on his social media platform to expose US government operations that enforce online censorship policies. This violates the free speech rights for many Americans.

Musk has previously leaked information about agencies such as the FBI pressuring old Twitter’s leadership to make content moderation decisions that suited the current administration(s) end goals. But this week he named a lesser known agency—GEC, or rather, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center—and called it the “worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation.”

These charges are very high considering what we know of other offenders in its ranks.

Musk later called the agency a “threat to democracy” This thread is linked to a thread that provides more information about their activities by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who has broken some of them “Twitter Files” online).

They are a menace to our democracy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2023

For more information, please refer to this thread https://t.co/2igo7PPwLy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2023

Taibbi’s thread was indeed damning. His reporting shows that in February 2020, during COVID’s initial breakout, GEC sent a report to the media titled, “Russian Disinformation Apparatus Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Concerns.”

https://t.co/BcFhHCvjAE February, 2020, as COVID broke out, the Global Engagement Center – a fledgling analytic/intelligence arms of the State Department – went to the media with a report called, “Russian Disinformation Apparatus Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Concerns.” pic.twitter.com/KjUeE8vejt

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023

He also noted that GEC was not a good idea. “flagged accounts as ‘Russian personas and proxies’ based on criteria like, ‘Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,’ blaming ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute,’ and ‘attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.’”

4.Accounts were flagged by the GEC “Russian personas and proxies” These criteria include: “Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,” Blaming “research conducted at the Wuhan institute,” “attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.” pic.twitter.com/a4xBotQZ2m

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023

5.State flagged accounts that retweeted the news that Twitter had banned ZeroHedge from being used in the United States. “led to another flurry of disinformation narratives.” ZH had made reports suggesting that the virus might have lab origin. pic.twitter.com/JlIobPzAFE

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023

Unlike the response to some other agencies weighing in on the government’s censorship practices, it appears many at Twitter did balk at GEC’s role in these decisions.

17. There was another reason. It was not the DHS or FBI which were. “apolitical,” Roth stated that the GEC was “political,” This code appeared to be partisan in Twitter-ese.

“I think they thought the FBI was less Trumpy,” This is what a former DOD official said. pic.twitter.com/y33deYO50B

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023

But accounts were apparently still blocked at their request.

29.Twitter honored almost everyone else’s requests, even those from GEC – including a decision to ban accounts like @RebelProtests @BricsMedia Because they were identified by GEC as “GRU-controlled” These two are linked “to the Russian government,” respectively: pic.twitter.com/OQjQuKTzTO

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023

https://t.co/08M51rg2BM All this led to the following situation: @ShellenbergerMD Two weeks ago, Twitter was paid $3.415,323 primarily for being an overwhelmed subcontractor.

Twitter wasn’t just paid. They were underpaid for the amount of work that they did for government.

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 3, 2023

Honestly, there’s too many problems here to list. Obviously this is a crystal clear attack on the First Amendment rights of hundreds of thousands of people—and we have no reason to believe these activities have ceased. These kinds of violations are allowed to continue by the government by allowing them be done behind closed doors by unelected bureaucrats that we don’t know much about and over whom we have no accountability.

While there are some bad laws passed by Congress that violate the Constitution it is not nearly as many or as severe as the violations that occur when no bill has ever been passed.

They can threaten your business by imposing regulations, taxes, and even antitrust on you. Without a law, you don’t have any recourse. You can’t sue the government or seek justice in court. The media is all you have and the hope that people will be as angry about these injustices if they are perpetrated.

We must not get excited about these activities. Demand that these bottom dwellers are reprimanded and that they stop using the same tactics.

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