President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may have officially shut down its “Disinformation Governance Board,” but it continues to pour millions of dollars into fighting so-called “misinformation”--and restricting free speech.
The DHS previously claimed in its “National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin” on Feb. 7, 2022, that “mis- dis- and mal-information”-spreaders contributed to a “heightened threat environment,” and it has dedicated money to combat these supposed threats.
The DHS has given $3,800,793 of taxpayer money to eight “state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education” for supposed anti-“misinformation,” “disinformation” and “malinformation” efforts this fiscal year as part of the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program.
TVTP also gave $5,954,502 to 10 organizations between 2020 and 2022 to combat supposed “violence,” “extremist violence,” and “terrorism” online.
Liberals commonly use terminology like “extremists” and “online violence” to stifle conservative speech.
The TVTP program’s goals include “Addressing Online Aspects of Terrorism and Targeted Violence” and “Preventing Domestic Violent Extremism,” according to the DHS webpage.
Grant recipients included Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which received $750,000 this year. Former Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) head and self-styled “Mary Poppins of Disinformation” Nina Jankowicz is affiliated with the Wilson Center, where she formerly served as a global fellow.
The Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communication received $592,598 to understand “how media literacy can offer a method for mediating cognitive and emotional responses in an extended reality (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality) environment.” Is the DHS preparing to control speech in VR and AR spaces like the “metaverse”?
The University of Rhode Island received $701,612. The DHS description of the grant says, “Disinformation, conspiracy theories, and propaganda have become large-scale social problems,” and adds that the grant will help target “members of faith communities, military spouses and family members, public health and public safety workforce, K-12 educators, librarians, high school and college students, and media and public relations professionals.” That covers a wide swath of society.
Other TVTP Grant recipients, according to the DHS website, include The Carter Center ($99,372), Lewis University ($157,707), University of Maryland National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism ($749,504), and the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy ($750,000).
MRC Free Speech America previously reported that the DGB’s official shutdown masked the DHS’s continued focus on censorship.
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