Report: US, UK Military Contractors Created League for Global Censorship in 2018

DEC 5 2023·Updated AUG 27

Story

Image credit: ARC Forum/Flickr [via Wikimedia Commons]

The Facts

Journalists Michael Shellenberger, Alex Gutentag, and Matt Taibbi have claimed to have taken the lid off a sprawling censorship and disinformation operation that works closely alongside various agencies within the US government in a report for the outlet Public at Substack. While such operations are "typically" conducted by "the CIA and NSA and the Department of Defense," it alleged, the government partners with the private sector to censor "Americans" because it knows it doesn't have the "legal authority" to do it on its own.
Substack
Shellenberger and Taibbi previously worked together on the Twitter Files — revealing how former executives at the social media platform now known as X made decisions, such as suppressing certain news stories and blocking various user accounts. They further claimed the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) were involved in these efforts.
The Washington Examiner
The new investigation, published on Nov. 28, focuses on an "anti-disinformation" collective named the Cyber Threat Intelligence League (CTIL) — officially, a volunteer project of data scientists and former defense and intelligence officials. According to the reporters, no one from the FBI, CISA, or CTIL responded to requests for comment.
Substack
However, according to a whistleblower — who provided the investigation with internal CTIL documents, emails, and other forms of communication — CTIL's founder, Sara-Jayne Terp, a British defense researcher, was "in the room" at former Pres. Barack Obama's White House in 2017 when she received instructions to create a counter-disinformation project to stop a "repeat of 2016."
theTrumpet.com
The report published CTIL documents and screen-captures from its internal messaging system, suggesting that it worked closely with the FBI, DHS, CISA, Twitter, and Facebook in making moderation decisions. It further alleged that CTIL sought to influence public opinion through "counter-messaging," co-opting hashtags, and diluting disfavored narratives, often doing so from fictitious sock-puppet accounts.
Substack
This comes as Taibbi and Shellenberger testified before the US House Select Subcommittee on the "Weaponization of the Federal Government" on Thursday.
WRGB

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Foreign governments often use disinformation and influence operations to maliciously undermine the American people's trust in their institutions and elected representatives. These initiatives, such as CISA, simply help the American people understand the risks, as well as help them take action to mitigate the associated risks. The government has a responsibility to protect Americans from foreign influence, especially when it's conducted on American soil.

CISA

Establishment-critical narrative

While these agencies claim to be altruistic, they are nothing more than censorship efforts with ties to the highest rungs of government. The documents show that it was CTIL itself that was engaging in disinformation and influence operations via fake accounts. Not only was this unAmerican, but unconstitutional. This wasn't about protecting against foreign influence but rather Western governments swaying public opinion in their own countries away from popular movements and toward the establishment's preferred outcome.