The MAGA Right Is Only Pretending to Be Censored
The conspiracy theory that persists even though no evidence supports it
TL;DR
- The Trump administration and its allies have extensively searched for evidence of a "censorship-industrial complex" but have failed to find any proof.
- Multiple lawsuits aimed at exposing alleged censorship by the Biden administration have been dismissed due to lack of evidence.
- The Global Engagement Center (GEC), which tracked foreign propaganda, was closed based on unsubstantiated claims of censorship, leaving the U.S. blind to international disinformation campaigns.
- Academic research projects, like the one at Stanford, have been shut down or hampered by these baseless accusations, and researchers have faced harassment.
- The narrative of a "censorship-industrial complex" is now influencing U.S. foreign policy, leading to actions that paradoxically punish free speech in the name of promoting it.
- Despite previous efforts, the State Department is now seeking to hire analysts to study "foreign adversarial propaganda," essentially recreating the work of the GEC.