How the $886 billion defense bill has ended up being at odds with stopping false information
By Ja’han Jones
With conspiratorial attacks on federal disinformation experts, independent researchers and media watchdogs, conservatives have been on a quest to quash efforts to help stop the spread of false and manipulative information online. And it seems Republicans have now succeeded in tying that crusade to the $886 billion defense bill that was just passed by Congress.
On Tuesday, Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., touted an amendment he succeeded in adding to the National Defense Authorization Act that appears to bar the Pentagon from using NewsGuard — an independent organization that rates news websites — or similar entities to help the military determine where to place recruitment ads.
In a tweet, McCormick proclaimed he was preventing the federal government from “censoring speech they don’t like.”
The NDAA now says that before the Pentagon can do business with an advertising firm, the firm must certify that it “does not place advertisements in news sources based on personal or institutional political preferences or biases, or determinations of misinformation.” The bill mentions NewsGuard by name, along with the Global Disinformation Index and “any similar entity.”
So, for example, it seems the Pentagon would be barred from working with an ad firm that uses NewsGuard to determine that right-wing outlet Newsmax is unsuitable for advertising because it’s a cesspool of misinformation.
In reality, these organizations serve to root out misinformation, regardless of who spreads it.
The deliberate targeting is noteworthy here. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and other right-wingers have targeted organizations like NewsGuard over baseless claims that they unfairly target conservatives. In reality, these organizations serve to root out misinformation, regardless of who spreads it.
But Republicans — who often use misinformation to push their messaging to the public — seem to have an obvious and self-serving incentive in fighting efforts to suppress it. Elon Musk, in particular, has placed NewsGuard in his crosshairs while promoting conspiracy theories about its purported bias.
McCormick even — rather pitifully — tagged the X owner while trumpeting his NDAA amendment in October.
As advertisers have fled the site formerly known as Twitter over bigoted and inflammatory content on the platform, Musk has angrily targeted those who track how these views spread. Now, the billionaire’s conspiratorial thinking is set to officially be reflected in the U.S. military’s policies.
Sounds eerily like oligarchy to me.
Ja’han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He’s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”