The Department of Homeland Security’s creation of a Disinformation Governance Board has set off a backlash on the right — even as it’s not entirely clear what the perhaps unfortunately named board will do.
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
mentioned the creation of the board in multiple congressional hearings this week. In one, he linked it to efforts to combat misinformation from human smugglers. In another, he said it would be used to counter Russian cyber and election misinformation: “We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security.”
Amid growing anti-censorship fervor on the right, a bevy of Republicans have suggested that the initiative amounts to policing speech. Elon Musk declared it “
messed up.” Many on the right
likened it to the “Ministry of Truth” from George Orwell’s book “
1984.”
They’ve also questioned the fitness of the board’s executive director, Nina Jankowicz, who has in the past supported Democrats, praised efforts to crack down on
coronavirus misinformation on social media and expressed skepticism about the provenance of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
claimed.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) offered some more toned-down skepticism, citing his own work on combating foreign misinformation.
