The unraveling of the US Department of Homeland Security’s “disinformation board” has brought to light a number of controversial and interesting insights
The unraveling of the US Department of Homeland Security’s “disinformation board” has brought to light a number of controversial and interesting insights. One of them is that the board was supposed to serve as a tool for the government to “work with” privately-owned social media platforms – specifically Twitter – by co-opting them as “stakeholders” in efforts to suppress debate about “conspiracy theories” – such as information around Covid, vaccines, and election integrity. Silicon Valley social media platforms wield enormous power in the digital public square but refuse to accept any responsibility that comes with it. Whenever that issue is raised in the context of widespread censorship on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc., these giants habitually choose to play dumb by declaring themselves as nothing more than private companies. But there has long been suspicion that some of the censorship apparatus they employ often works on behalf of political actors. Several documents leaked by a w