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Outsourced censorship: Feds used private entity to target millions of social posts in 2020

Biden administration gave millions in tax dollars to groups after election, records show. Election Integrity Partnership says it had 35% success rate getting tech platforms to label, remove or restrict content.

A consortium of four private groups worked with the departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State to censor massive numbers of social media posts they considered misinformation during the 2020 election, and its members then got rewarded with millions of federal dollars from the Biden administration afterwards, according to interviews and documents obtained by Just the News.

The Election Integrity Partnership is back in action again for the 2022 midterm elections, raising concerns among civil libertarians that a chilling new form of public-private partnership to evade the First Amendment's prohibition of government censorship may be expanding.

The consortium is comprised of four member organizations: Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public, the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, and social media analytics firm Graphika. It set up a concierge-like service in 2020 that allowed federal agencies like Homeland's Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and State's Global Engagement Center to file "tickets" requesting that online story links and social media posts be censored or flagged by Big Tech.

Three liberal groups — the Democratic National Committee, Common Cause and the NAACP — were also empowered like the federal agencies to file tickets seeking censorship of content. A Homeland-funded collaboration, the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, also had access.

In its own after-action report on the 2020 election, the consortium boasted it flagged more than 4,800 URLs — shared nearly 22 million times on Twitter alone — for social media platforms. Their staff worked 12-20 hour shifts from September through mid-November 2020, with "monitoring intensif[ying] significantly" the week before and after Election Day.

The tickets sought removal, throttling and labeling of content that raised questions about mail-in ballot integrity, Arizona's "Sharpiegate," and other election integrity issues of concern to conservatives.

The consortium achieved a success rate in 2020 that would be enviable for baseball batters: Platforms took action on 35% of flagged URLs, with 21% labeled, 13% removed and 1% soft-blocked, meaning users had to reject a warning to see them. The partnership couldn't determine how many were downranked.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from passing any laws that abridge free speech, and courts have ruled that prohibition extends to federal agencies funded by the legislative branch. Participants were acutely aware that federal agencies' role in the effort strayed into uncharted legal territory.

For instance, SIO's Renee DiResta said in a CISA Cybersecurity Summit video in 2021 that the operation faced "unclear legal authorities" and "very real First Amendment questions." She joined SIO from a firm exposed by The New York Times for creating "a 'false flag' operation" against Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/biden-administration-rewarded-private-entities-got-2020-election

DHS Pursuing 1,700 Leads on Alleged War Criminals Living in US

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Sept. 28 that it’s pursuing nearly 1,700 leads of people living in the United States who were alleged perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other human rights violations.

The department confirmed the number of leads it’s pursuing in response to questioning by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) during testimony on war crimes before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Durbin noted that lawmakers have evidence that DHS is pursuing people from approximately 75 countries who are living in the United States.

“These are known leads. The actual number may be even higher,” Durbin noted. “When the Department of Homeland Security discovers a perpetrator here in the United States, what options does it have for ensuring that the perpetrator will not enjoy safe haven status in our country?”

Andre R. Watson, assistant director for national security at DHS, explained that the department has “numerous options” available to ensure the perpetrator will not be granted safe haven status, “starting with the human rights violators and coordination center.”

Watson said that DHS can build an investigation based on crime patterns as it relates to a region and that from there, it can find “people who are associated with those crime patterns” and eventually lead to the apprehension of that person.

More Prosecutions Needed

However, Durbin asked why, if DHS has over 1,700 leads, no prosecutions have taken place, to which Watson responded that “the investigations take time because more often than not it requires an extensive work up.”

He cited challenges such as tracking down foreign witnesses who are outside of the United States, meaning officials need to travel to them and conduct interviews.

“I would say our credibility on this issue relies on results,” Durbin responded.

Durbin’s questioning comes as lawmakers seek to pass the Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act, which would update the current 1996 war crimes legislation (pdf) to allow federal agencies to prosecute war criminals found in the United States, regardless of where their alleged crimes took place or whom they targeted, including if the targets were not U.S. citizens.

The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by Durbin and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), also extends the statute of limitations for war crimes that are discovered years after they took place.

Under current U.S. law, individuals who commit war crimes in the United States or against Americans abroad may be prosecuted.

Lawmakers say the bill could enable the prosecution of Russian human rights crimes against Ukrainians if those perpetrators come to the United States

Human rights investigators appointed by the United Nations said last week that war crimes—including sexual violence against women and children, torture, and executions—had been committed by Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

Watson was asked by the panel on Wednesday if he knew whether any Russian war criminals have made their way into the United States.

“To the best of my knowledge, I’m not aware of particulars to confirm that fact at this time,” Watson said.

https://www.ntd.com/dhs-pursuing-1700-leads-on-alleged-war-criminals-living-in-us_848652.html

‘Aligned With Our Mission’: Seattle Children’s Promises To Keep Operating On Trans Children

Seattle Children’s Hospital doubled down on its “mission” to operate on children with sexuality and gender identity issues in a statement to the Daily Caller on Wednesday, even as pressure mounts on health systems to quit pushing irreversible surgeries on adolescent patients.

The hospital website boasts it is “the only pediatric academic medical center with fellowship-trained plastic surgeons who provide gender-affirming surgery in our region — Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.” The hospital told the Daily Caller that despite increased tension, it plans to continue performing “gender-affirming care” on its pediatric patients.

“We will continue to offer evidence-based gender-affirming care because it is lifesaving care and is aligned with our mission to help every patient live their healthiest and most fulfilling life possible,” a Seattle Children’s spokesman told the Daily Caller. “Seattle Children’s providers are specifically trained to care for the unique needs of adolescents, teens and young adults. This allows our team to offer personalized care that is tailored to meet each patient’s individual needs and goals.”

The “Surgical Gender Affirmation Program” at Seattle Children’s says it “treats teens and young adults” with gender identity issues through “complex procedures, including face and neck surgery, top surgery (breast/chest), bottom surgery (genitals) and body contouring.”

https://dailycaller.com/2022/09/29/seattle-childrens-hospital-gender-care-surgery-child-transgender/