Rep. Kevin McCarthy Says Pres. Joe Biden Created New 'Disinformation Board,' Adding President Wants to 'Control American Lives'
House Rep. Kevin McCarthy has said that U.S. President Joe Biden has created a new disinformation board, which the Democrats could access to control the information Americans are able to see.
The House leader raised the question if they do not trust Americans enough "that they want to control that much of our lives" during a press briefing on the new Homeland Security board.
Daily Mail reported that the Republican representative claimed Democrats are trying to "conceal information pushed by the right," which leftists seemed to label as likely conspiracies.
Republicans quickly denounced the new disinformation board officially known as Disinformation Governance Board.
It is currently headed by so-called Russian misinformation expert Nina Jankowicz.
McCarthy further said that the president's "Ministry of truth is an un-American abuse of power." The House leader was referring to George Orwell's novel 1984.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado also spoke at the press briefing at the Capitol, saying "free speech is under attack here in America."
U.S. President Joe Biden's Disinformation Board
Federal Communications Commission head Brendan Carr slammed the Homeland Security's new disinformation board, which aims to fight online disinformation.
Carr called the new board "Orwellian," "un-American," and "unconstitutional," according to a Fox Business News report.
Carr stressed that the disinformation board should be abolished, arguing that "there is a broader game afoot."
The FCC commissioner then mentioned White House press secretary Jen Psaki from the White House podium saying that they are coordinating with Big Tech to take down posts, flagging posts for them.
Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the disinformation board late last month, saying that the goal was to address the threat.
He added that the department is focused on the spread of disinformation in minority communities before the 2022 midterm elections.
Republican-led states are threatening legal action against Homeland Security's new disinformation board.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is leading GOP attorneys general in sending a letter to Mayorkas demanding the department halt the enforcement of the board.
The 20 attorneys general wrote in a letter that it is an "unacceptable and downright alarming encroachment on every citizen's right" in expressing their opinions.
Disinformation in the United States
Claire Wardle, the executive director of First Draft, noted in The Guardian report that America's current disinformation crisis is a collection of more than two decades of "pollution of the country's information ecosystem."
In addition, the left and right in the U.S. do not only have different sets of media outlets for their different audiences.
They also have created distinct models of information-sharing, according to Wardle.
Mainstream media outlets follow a traditional top-down broadcast model, wherein right-wing media has developed a strategy through talk radio.
Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor who studies disinformation, said that former U.S. President Donald Trump has built on that, embracing "participatory disinformation."
Starbird wrote that the former president did not just prime his audience to be receptive to false narratives of vote fraud, but also "inspired them to create them."
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: McCarthy Criticizes DHS Disinformation Board As 'Un-American Abuse Of Power' - from NBC News