President Joe Biden’s administration contemplated concealing its efforts to spend millions of dollars to fund research to suppress online “misinformation” after Daily Caller News Foundation reporting, according to a report the House Judiciary Committee published on Tuesday.
Biden’s National Science Foundation (NSF) received funding for “misinformation” research in a plan dubbed “Track F,” the DCNF reported on Feb. 19 2023, linking to videos of the agency’s efforts. NSF program manager Michael Pozmantier sent an email declaring he was “going to see about pulling them [the videos] down or locking the page ASAP” the following day, according to a screenshot in the report. (RELATED: DHS Subdivision Quietly Deleted Video Urging Americans To Report Covid ‘Disinformation’ From Family Members)
“The National Science Foundation (NSF) is pouring millions into research and the development of tools to combat online mis- and disinformation, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of agency grants.”https://t.co/FWC4Wiwmlh
— TheLegalBrain (@TheLegalBrain1) February 20, 2023
The NSF had contributed $38.8 million on research initiatives to counter so-called “misinformation” since Biden’s inauguration by November 2022, according to a report by the Foundation For Freedom Online (FFO), the DCNF reported. However, the NSF awarded additional grants to combat mis- and disinformation following FFO’s report, most of which fall under the “Convergence Accelerator Track F: Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems” or “Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC),” the DCNF found.
“The purpose of these taxpayer-funded projects is to develop artificial intelligence (AI)- powered censorship and propaganda tools that can be used by governments and Big Tech to shape public opinion by restricting certain viewpoints or promoting others,” the House Judiciary Committee report states.
For instance, the NSF in December 2022 awarded the University of Houston a $50,000 grant for establishing a “social media misinformation interactive dashboard” that would “forecast trends and analysis to help address the misinformation endemic in America,” according to the grant abstract.
Moreover, the NSF in July 2019 awarded Syracuse University a $495,478 grant to study the “online dynamics of misinformation,” focusing on how “misinformation becomes woven into narratives online, how technology influences this process, and how design might be used to alter it.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led researchers informed the NSF that “broad swaths of the public cannot effectively sort truth from fiction online” in a project proposal summary, according to the House Judiciary Committee report. The researchers particularly highlighted “rural and indigenous communities,” “military veterans, older adults, and military families” and “older adults” as being the most vulnerable.
The NSF awarded $750,000 to MIT-led researchers and it created propaganda tools to educate these demographics because of their vulnerability to “misinformation campaigns,” according to the House Judiciary Committee report.
“NSF did not at any point attempt to conceal or mislead the public, Congress, or the media about its Track F Program or any of its other investments,” the NSF spokesperson TOLD. “The ‘media strategy’ referenced in the committee’s report was done counter to the official NSF Media Policy and without the input or knowledge of NSF Leadership and is not being used by NSF. NSF continues to prioritize outreach and transparency to the entire American public so they can see firsthand how that investment has improved their everyday lives … NSF has been working with the House Judiciary Committee to address their concerns and will continue to do so on the requests outlined in this report.”
The NSF repeatedly attempted to conceal its initiatives, according to the House Judiciary Committee report. It developed a media strategy and even contemplated making a list of conservative media outlets not to correspond with, the report says.
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