A Republican letter to the Department of Homeland Security highlights a term apparently used by President Joe Biden‘s administration in its proposed discussions of a Disinformation Governance Board, jokingly dubbed by conservatives “The Ministry of Truth.”
Republicans Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Josh Hawley of Missouri called on DHS on Tuesday to “provide additional clarity regarding its policies and procedures for identifying (mis-, dis- or mal-information), as well as its efforts to ‘operationalize’ public-private partnerships and the steps it is taking to ensure it does not infringe on the constitutional rights of American citizens.”
The term “malinformation,” according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, refers to information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment or provide an example of malinformation to The Daily Wire.
Thanks to a patriotic whistleblower, we now know the Biden DHS was planning to coordinate with Big Tech to track Americans’ speech with its unconstitutional Disinformation Board pic.twitter.com/3GUU066SMC
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) June 9, 2022
After a whistleblower came forward with documents about the proposed Disinformation Governance Board, the Republican senators are asking DHS to explain how it planned to coordinate with social media companies in classifying content as being threatening to the public.
The Republicans warned that they have obtained internal DHS records showing that “DGB was designed to exert a powerful influence over the government’s efforts to crack down on disinformation in areas where there are ‘clear, objective facts’” — and that DHS was not just focused on foreign disinformation, but also COVID vaccines, masks, elections, and other domestic issues.
The Disinformation Governance Board first was publicly announced by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in April shortly after Elon Musk announced he had brokered a deal to purchase Twitter, sparking liberal concerns that elections could be swayed through Twitter’s targeting of political parties or candidates.
After massive backlash, DHS announced that it had paused the board in May and President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the body, disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz, additionally announced her resignation.