News/Commentary

Connecticut plans to spend big bucks on its very own ‘Ministry of Truth’ to preside over midterm elections

June 2, 2022 | | Print Article

Just when you thought America was free of a federal Disinformation Governance Board, the state of Connecticut is ponying up $2 million of taxpayer money to create its own Ministry of Truth, complete with a “Misinformation Sheriff” to police any “fringe” websites that may be spreading any so-called “fake news” about acceptable narratives or the integrity of the upcoming midterm elections.

According to The New York Times, “the state plans to spend nearly $2 million on marketing to share factual information about voting, and to create its first-ever position for an expert in combating misinformation.”

“With a salary of $150,000, the person is expected to comb fringe sites like 4chan, far-right social networks like Gettr and Rumble, and mainstream social media sites to root out early misinformation narratives about voting before they go viral, and then urge the companies to remove or flag the posts that contain false information,” Cecilia Kang writes in an article entitled, “Help Wanted: State Misinformation Sheriff.”

 

Before you think this sounds way too Orwellian for even the Dems to pull off, you should know that, in Canada, the global fact-checker NewsGuard has already partnered with an online voting company called Neuvote “to protect voters and political candidates from misinformation.”

The two companies announced in February that they teamed up for the launch of CiVik, a “unique online platform that allows voters and political candidates at the municipal, provincial, and federal level to interact.”

NewsGuard currently rates news sites such as American Wire according to nine criteria and decides whether or not sites are “reliable” and “credible” sources of information. Receive a negative rating from NewsGuard, and you’ll quickly find potential advertisers snubbing your site and vendors who are partnered with NewsGuard pulling their services from your business.

Critics of NewsGuard have argued that the group unfairly attacks conservative news sites while giving sites like CNN stellar marks.

With CiVik, NewsGuard will be policing discussions surrounding Canadian elections.

“When any link to a news article is posted on CiVik, NewsGuard’s Red or Green rating icon will appear, providing users a chance to see the source’s Reliability Rating and the detailed ‘Nutrition Label’ review that explains the rating,” according to the company’s press release.

“Our partnership with NewsGuard ensures that discourse between citizens and governments on CiVik is trusted, transparent, and prioritizes truth,” said Neuvote’s CEO and founder Matthew Heuman.

When you consider that NewsGuard is also partnered with the Biden administration’s State Department and Department of Defense, it is not difficult to imagine a similar system to control the midterm narratives being set up in Connecticut.

“We have to have situational awareness by looking into all the incoming threats to the integrity of elections,” Connecticut’s deputy secretary of the state, Scott Bates, told The Times. “Misinformation can erode people’s confidence in elections, and we view that as a critical threat to the democratic process.”

And as The Times notes, Connecticut isn’t the only state looking to own the narratives.

While Oregon, Idaho and Arizona are investing in education and ad campaigns across all mediums, “Colorado has hired three cybersecurity experts to monitor sites for misinformation.”

And never one to be outdone on the progressive playing field, The Times reports that “California’s office of the secretary of state is searching for misinformation and working with the Department of Homeland Security and academics to look for patterns of misinformation across the internet.”

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles