Receipt-filled thread shows how YOUR tax dollars were used to blacklist (defund) conservative media

Gosh, it sure sounds like the government doesn’t want you reading conservative news. Wonder why? As Twitchy readers know, the Washington Examiner broke a HUGE story late last week about a Microsoft-supported ad group working to deplatform and defund conservative sites; they were blacklisting us as a means to all but destroy our advertising revenue. They accused us of spreading disinformation and used descriptors like misogynists and hate, etc. They actually called Townhall Media ‘offensive and reprehensible’.

Meanwhile, they promoted sites like Buzzfeed and HuffPo.

Because of course, they did.

Now, it sounds like there are more dots to connect here … to the State Department. No, seriously.

Take a look at this thread from Walter Olson:

This is just outrageous. The U.S. State Department has funded "disinformation index" @DisinfoIndex, which feeds a blacklist to advertisers to keep ads off sites like @Reason magazine (at which I'm a contributing editor). /1 https://t.co/hAn09jPbZm

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

They targeted Reason Magazine, you guys.

Probably the most centrist, unbiased site around …

From Liberty Unyielding:

Conservative and libertarian-leaning media are now being starved of advertising dollars because of a taxpayer-funded progressive group — the Global Disinformation Index. It classifies truthful media coverage as “disinformation” that advertisers should avoid, when it is offensive to progressives. Most of the publications targeted by the Global Disinformation Index are conservative, but even non-conservative publications have been classified as misinformation after criticizing civil-liberties violations by progressive officials. That includes Reason Magazine, a libertarian publication that has won journalism awards for its reporting on civil-liberties violations and government abuses of power.

So basically any outlet not pushing government-approved Leftist garbage.

Others on the blacklist as purported disinformation purveyors: the @nypost and the @dcexaminer. The London-based group describes its mission as "Disrupting the business model of disinformation." You can download one of its relevant reports here: https://t.co/vIb8HxzoO6 /2

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

London-based group.

This just gets dumber and more horrible by the minute.

The group has received upwards of $300,000 from two State Department-backed entities, the National Endowment for Democracy @NEDemocracy and the Department's own Global Engagement Center @TheGEC, per @gekaminsky at @dcexaminer. /3 https://t.co/AgMpjTnt4L

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

From the Washington Examiner:

According to financial statements, the NED received over $300 million from the State Department in 2021. Critics have argued that the endowment, which Congress authorized in 1983, is essentially a government grantmaking body despite its legal status as a private entity.

In 2020, the NED granted $230,000 to the AN Foundation, GDI’s group that also goes by the Disinformation Index Foundation, documents show.

So … those of us in conservative media have been paying for these a-holes to try and defund/deplatform us.

No words.

Per @gekaminsky, "GDI compiles a 'dynamic exclusion list' that it feeds to corporate entities….The list….has 'had a significant impact on the advertising revenue that has gone to those sites,' said GDI's CEO Clare Melford on a March 2022 podcast." /4

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

… dynamic exclusion list.

How very Orwellian.

Last month, Hans Bader noted that the "concept of hate speech has expanded among progressives to include commonplace conservative views about racial or sexual subjects" and cited the work of @DisinfoIndex /5 https://t.co/3oaPDKKW4N

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

Basically, hate speech is anything the Left disagrees with.

Here's an example found in just a click or two on GDI's website: a report warning advertisers away from "misogynistic discrimination" whose concluding example was a column by @conncarroll summarizing the views of @BradWilcoxIFS of U. Va. /6 https://t.co/Me49yRdup8

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

Just. Wow.

"In the wake of the Washington Examiner's reporting, Microsoft has launched a review of its relationship with GDI and has suspended usage of the group's services," reports @gekaminsky. /7 https://t.co/k8uERPehba

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

In other words, Microsoft backpedaled and is trying to cover its backside.

GDI has also listed the 10 websites it designates "least risky." On that list: NPR, ProPublica, Buzzfeed News, and HuffPost. https://t.co/N9mofr0ciS /8

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

PROPUBLICA. HA HA HA HA HA

But you know, we’re false and misleading.

You’ve gotta be kidding us.

I myself am fine with advertisers' using lists to distance from content they find controversial or downbeat (no placements next to stories about car crashes or wars). I'm equally fine with the rest of us using our speech to blast list-compilers' choices as stupid and biased. /9

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

This. ^

What I do know is that government and its functionaries must not get involved in pressuring or "helping" advertisers on this. In practice that can mean stepping selectively on the oxygen hose of ad revenues that supplies an adversary press. /10

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

ALSO THIS^.

The government has no business whatsoever in funding any sort of action to silence the opinions of the media. We’re certainly not experts but this sounds a lot like a First Amendment thing.

The danger, note, can come from more than one direction. At the Congressional hearings that are coming, companies must also be free from fear of official retaliation should they choose *not* to advertise. But state action that promotes blacklisting needs to end — now. /11, efn

— Walter Olson (@walterolson) February 12, 2023

See, you can tell he writes for Reason. His take is fair.

Meanwhile, this editor is ready to break out a chainsaw or two …