Posted on 03/16/2024 4:47:06 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Going further than the Treasury Department's tacit support for debanking alleged "hate groups" after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a State Department component that "strengthen[s] resilient democratic societies" developed a more sweeping plan for financially choking off disfavored narratives a month later.
The U.S. Agency for International Development wrote a "Disinformation Primer" that appears to have been started in "late 2020," judging by a reference to the most up-to-date "social media initiatives" by Facebook and Twitter "to address disinformation and misinformation."
It was still being written at least 10 days into the Biden administration, referring twice to the Jan. 31, 2021 Myanmar military coup, which the primer says "underlined issues of internet freedom and disinformation."
State turned over the 88-page document, dated February 2021 and marked "internal use only," as part of a 102-page production in response to Freedom of Information Act litigation by America First Legal.
The primer was "conceived and developed by Joshua Machleder and Shannon Maguire at USAID, together with" the University of Chicago organization formerly known as the National Opinion Research Center, the introduction says.
It thanks dozens of individuals at universities and government institutions including the National Endowment for Democracy and U.S. Institute for Peace "for sharing their time, opinions, and expertise," and current and former USAID staff for "opinions and feedback."
USAID didn't respond to requests for comment on its view of the primer now.
(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...
Do you have any idea what this means in the overall survival of truth, justice and the American way?
It means government decides what information you are allowed to have.
Downloading an unapproved app could be a federal crime.
Why is USAID - a government organization chartered to only support US interests in international locations - regulating and disseminating totalitarian regulations on the domestic front?
Because they can, evidently.
USAID is CIA.
I know of cases in the past where they prevented great disaster. BUT, I also know they are aiming their Control System back upon the US citizens. To silence them.
This Un Constitutional Insanity MUST END.
SPYING ON YOUR CASH: Explosive Report Exposes Gov’t-Financial Sector Collusion to Surveil Americans (Mar 6, 2024)
House Republican Judiciary Committee Report
Just WOW!
The notion that we just might have “authoritarians” right here in the US just totally missed their notice.
What does Samizdat look like in the Internet Age?
Yes.
“The primer was “conceived and developed by Joshua Machleder and Shannon Maguire at USAID, together with” the University of Chicago organization formerly known as the National Opinion Research Center, the introduction says.”
Machleder has a background with the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), the same Cold War Communist Party front group Jamie Raskin’s father helped run. He wrote a paper on Russian NGOs in Moscow as an Alfa Fellow with INDEM Foundation in 2006. Recently he’s worked at the National Endowment for Democracy (CIA front linked to USAID and Soros operations in Obama-era Ukraine) and been involved in teaching English to Ukranian refugees.
* * *
https://ips-dc.org/ips-authors/josh-machleder/
Josh Machleder
Latest
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John Cavanagh, Manuel Perez-Rocha, Robin Broad, J. Alejandro Artiga-Purcell, Pedro Cabezas, Bernie Hammond, Angela Sanbrano, Heather White, Ross Wells, Scott Wright | January 11, 2024
Alternative Political Voices In Uzbekistan
Josh Machleder | January 29, 2003
Despite some advances, the Uzbek government continues to appear reluctant to broaden civic participation in the country.
Contextual and Legislative Analysis of the Russian Law on NGOs
Josh Machleder, Alfa Fellow
2006 UNPUBLISHED
Contextual and Legislative Analysis of the Russian Law
on NGOs
Josh Machleder, Alfa-Fellow
INDEM Foundation
Moscow, Russia
March 16, 2006
Shannon Maguire boasts how USAID under the leadership of Samantha Power has promoted propaganda and censorship under the guise of promoting freedom of the press:
When authoritarian and other repressive actors seek to silence expression, they do so to divide citizens, undermine their faith and trust in institutions, and make them question whether democracy can deliver for them.
Whether traditional techniques — attacking journalists, jailing editors, or putting censorship statutes on the books — or new takes like poisoning the information space or shutting down the internet, the intent is to silence dissent, or even just create uncertainty or cynicism.
As worst practices are shared, we see corruption weaponized, truthful narratives purposely distorted, and technologies put to work against reporters in Sudan, Myanmar, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and so many other places. Accelerating this trend was the COVID-19 pandemic, when uncertainty and global economic disruption opened the path for increased democratic erosion and closing civic space, putting even more pressure on independent media.
Supporting independent media has been part of USAID’s democracy and governance assistance efforts since the 1980s. The U.S. government is now the largest public donor to independent media development globally. . .
New Initiatives to Advance Free and Independent Media
Amajor demonstration of this approach comes through USAID’s Summit for Democracy commitments, a series of initiatives to address these threats and advance free and independent media.
The first one is the Media Viability Accelerator (MVA), which was announced at the first Summit for Democracy in December 2021. The goal of the MVA is to preserve fact-based news and information media by providing access to the data they need to build strategies to survive, thrive, adapt, and grow as businesses. Through a public-private partnership with USAID, Microsoft, and Internews, MVA is a unique data platform using artificial intelligence and other digital tools to enable media outlets to better understand markets, audiences, and strategies that will maximize their odds of profitability.
Second, USAID’s $20 million contribution to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is helping to boost global support through grants to develop and sustain a wide range of independent news organizations. To date, IFPIM has committed nearly $9 million through 32 grants across 16 countries to media outlets in urgent need of financial assistance and to strengthen their long-term sustainability. USAID’s initial seed funding has leveraged an additional $30 million from 15 governments, philanthropies, and corporate entities.
This solicitation says: Reporters Shield: FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE ATTACKS ON FREE PRESS; NOW OPEN FOR MEMBERSHIP; APPLY AT reporters-shield.org; #WorldPressFreedomDay.
The third initiative is Reporters Shield, an innovative program that helps protect investigative media outlets and civil society organizations from strategic litigation against public participation lawsuits, or other legal threats meant to silence their reporting. Prior to the launch of Reporters Shield, such help was inconsistent, ad hoc, reactive, and, often, expensive.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power launched the next phase of USAID’s Reporters Shield, at the United Nations Headquarters last World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Reporters Shield is now providing legal support services and capacity development for 12 media outlets and civil society organizations doing investigative reporting, with more than 100 applications still under review during the launch phase alone. Additional phases will be opening in spring and summer.
AEnsuring Trustworthy Information
Although these three innovations directly benefit journalists and media organizations, they are ultimately meant to ensure that all of us have sources of trustworthy information.
They also complement other USAID programs that equip journalists and their allies to protect themselves from attacks online and offline, strengthen investigative journalism networks, advance freedom of expression, and amplify citizen voices and government response. . .
. . .
About the Author
Shannon Maguire is the Senior Media Advisor in USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia’s Technical Support Office in the Democracy and Governance Division.
Memes are now a crime?
Not all - not yet...
Imagine what is going through President Trump’s mind today. After now becoming completely aware of how bad the threat is to the nation and himself. He knows full well now.
We must be solid behind him and make every effort to expose the Huge collection of unspeakably evil people who seek to destroy they USA and the so called Free World.
I seldom make political contributions, but have 2 brave people in my mind right now that I will find a way to help. They are both brave in the face of evil.
We are all being tested and may we stand in the face of this Great Evil.
Do you have any idea what this means in the overall survival of truth, justice and the American way?
—
Are you kidding? That stuff went away during the Noxious Nixon Regime.
The American Way means letting everyone say what they think the truth is, and letting people decide for themselves. JS Mills On Liberty says that 1. If you think you can censor “misinformation,” it means you think you’re omniscient and infallible. 2. If you censor opposing views, you become an intellectually flabby fat head, who ultimately will not be able to win a debate, and your ideology will ultimately fail due to intellectual flabbiness.
Gee. A “right” to have the government control your access to information. For your own good of course.
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