Before the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Election, where counting was shut down in the middle of the night only to kick back up with Joe Biden surpassing President Trump’s lead in each of the swing states, censorship existed, but most Americans were unaware as to what extent. However, following the pandemic and the 2020 Election, rife with uninvestigated allegations of fraud, the censorship exponentially increased as conservative accounts that dared question the origins of COVID-19 or the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s ‘victory.’ The censorship became glaringly obvious, but just how extensively and deeply the tentacles of censorship penetrated was then unknown.
Over time, it was discovered that there was a massive coordination between social media companies, a plethora of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and certain agencies within the federal government. The Gateway Pundit has reported extensively on the censorship regime over the years, including attempts to contract with NGOs funded through the Department of Homeland Security and “misinformation portals” opened up federally-funded NGOs such as the Center for Internet Security to act as a “singular conduit” for government officials to report what they deemed unsafe for consumption.
In fact The Gateway Pundit was and is the primary target of the international censorship apparatus.
America First Legal (AFL), through ongoing litigation, has uncovered more of the censorship regime as it continues to unravel the extent of the censorship. A press release from the organization highlights “a vast, government-backed censorship operation to silence Americans under the guise of ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation.'” This time, their findings reveal a name that has become common even in the Mockingbird Media: USAID.
The documents reveal a disturbing alliance between the GEC, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the British Foreign, Commonwealth, Development Office (FCDO), and media censorship organizations, all working in lock-step to manipulate public discourse, control media narratives, and suppress free speech.
The GEC, which was forced to shut down in December 2024, was designed to “combat foreign disinformation abroad.” However, through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, AFL uncovered that the GEC engaged in state-sponsored propaganda, repeatedly using willing participants from private media organizations. Further, AFL’s lawsuit against the GEC revealed that USAID had created an internal “Disinformation Primer” that explicitly praised private sector censorship strategies and recommended further censorship tactics.
According to AFL, the Global Engagement Center (GEC) and USAID “coordinated efforts to censor ‘COVID-19 misinformation’ and counter ‘COVID-19 propaganda.'” The release states that, “The GEC, in turn, collaborated with officials in the British Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office[s] on disinformation efforts.”
Not only was the censorship sponsored by both US and British government offices, but it was oftentimes done so through “Misinformation Fingerprints artificial intelligence.” This tool was “designed to identify and rate websites based on their perceived ‘misinformation'” and utilized by several media companies, including Poynter and NewsGuard.
The idea of not just censoring free speech, but doing so not by utilizing human intuition, but rather using artificial intelligence, is a dangerous line to cross. Pandora’s Box has been opened and likely cannot be closed, especially as US Courts seem to back the censorship regime over the First Amendment.
The release from AFL also published emails obtained through litigation that show the web of involvement in the censorship regime:
In a widely distributed email to USAID, the GEC’s “Liaison Planner to USAID” stated that GEC would like to “sustain dialogue and connectivity during these unprecedented times” to help counter “misinformation” surrounding COVID-19 despite USAID’s self-described mission being “to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.”
The collaboration of USAID and the GEC working together included “‘counter propaganda’ and ‘Disinformation and COVID-19 related products,’ ranging from a “KHARON (risk analysis program) demo to monitoring ‘disinformation’ narratives surrounding the 2020 Presidential Elections in Moldova.”
NewsGuard Technologies General Manager Matt Skibinski pitched NewsGuard’s services to several organizations with questionable governmental relationships, including Park Advisors. Park Advisors, led by then-Director Christina Nemr who formerly worked in the Obama Administration’s State Department, sought to “support government adoption” with “emerging technologies and real-world operational needs.”
Park Advisors received $6 million in a cooperative agreement from GEC. Those funds were distributed to NewsGuard, the Atlantic Council, and the Soros-funded Global Disinformation Index that listed conservative websites while urging advertising companies to boycott them. The Gateway Pundit was among those conservative organizations.
Also included in Skibinski’s email were several government employees from the Department of State, the National Security Agency, and components of the Department of Defense including the National Security Innovation Network, US Cyber Command, and the US Army’s European Command.
Skibinski showed samples of the new GEC/U.S Cybercommand Testbed Pilot (Misinformation Fingerprints). This program utilized artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor “misinformation.” The House Small Business Committee report details that “there was no firewall in place to ensure that Federal resources were not being used to develop and promote technologies that would have domestic impacts.”
“The partnership between USAID and the Global Engagement Center is bad news for the American people. Add in the fact that they were coordinating with internet censorship enforcers at NewsGuard and Poynter, and you can start to see just how dangerous this unholy alliance is for free speech and free expression. Thankfully, the GEC is shuttered and USAID is being exposed — but lawmakers should take note of this example as they consider legislation to ensure the federal government actually serves American principles and interests,” said AFL’s Senior Counsel Andrew Block.
/1BREAKING — Explosive new documents expose a massive government-backed censorship operation orchestrated by USAID, the Global Engagement Center, the UK government, and media firms to manipulate public discourse and silence Americans. pic.twitter.com/ScJJeYoFcJ
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) March 20, 2025
USAID, a “CIA-front,” has been in the headlines of Mockingbird Media Outlets since President Trump took office and gutted 83% of the organizations contracts and a sizable amount of its staff. After previously ordering President Trump to reinstate USAID’s functionality, US District Court Judge Theodore Chuang rejected President Trump’s appointment of former DOGE employee Jeremy Lewin to the role of deputy administrator and Chief Operating Officer of USAID.
USAID was created in 1961 by Executive Order. Apparently, a US District Court Judge has the authority now to subvert Article II of the US Constitution by not only limiting the President’s ability to dissolve an entity created through Executive Order 10973, but to manage whom he can appoint to the agency as well. Congress passed the Foreign Affairs and Restructuring Act of 1998, requiring any significant changes or dissolution to be made through an act of Congress, usurping the executive branch’s authority to manage it’s own creation.
THREAD: Starting fresh thread elaborating on horrifyingly abusive order just entered by a federal judge. Judge Chuang just clarified that he was enjoining Jeremy Lewin, individual Marco Rubio delegated authority to serve as Deputy Administrator and COO of USAID could not: pic.twitter.com/9Y2ihR7dHC
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) March 21, 2025
According to a release from the Foundation for Freedom Online in March 2024, USAID’s censorship motives run deep:
- The US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Center on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) created an internal “Disinformation Primer” that revealed the agency’s explicit praise for private sector censorship strategies and proposed additional censorship practices and techniques.
- USAID’s censorship proposals were aimed at influencing private sector technology companies, media organizations, education ministries, national governments and funding bodies.
- USAID endorsed “Advertiser Outreach” for the purpose of getting corporate advertisers to financially throttle disfavored media sources and social media accounts.
- USAID recommended Google’s Redirect Method and “prebunking” (i.e., psychological inoculation) as potential solutions to stop the erosion of traditional media influence over citizen hearts and minds.
- USAID proposed targeting gamers and gaming sites, pushing the need to censor their formation of “interpretations of the world that differ from ‘mainstream’ sources” and interrupting the process by which “individuals contribute their own ‘research’” to collectively form their own “populist expertise.”
The post America First Legal Uncovers USAID/Global Engagement Center Censorship Operation to Manipulate Public Discourse in the US and Abroad and Suppress Free Speech appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.