OAN Deven Berryhill
UPDATED 3:30 PM PT – Friday, March 10, 2023
The House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government met at the request of Congressman Matt Gaetz to investigate unfair practices conducted by the media watchdog NewsGuard.
On Friday, Gaetz (R-Fla.) produced evidence before the panel that, in his opinion, condemned certain practices performed by NewsGuard.
“But what you’re describing now is literally the directing of revenue to certain media companies over other media companies, designed and implemented with U.S. government funding and support,” said Gaetz.
According to the Press Gazette, NewsGuard has predominantly generated revenue by licensing its reports and data for brand safety purposes – for example, the creation of lists of sites on which companies can advertise without needing to worry about appearing alongside inaccurate content.
Congressman Gaetz took the opportunity to question two well known “Twitter Files” authors about the potential illegal practices by NewsGuard.
“We learned Twitter, Facebook, Google and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation requests from every corner of government, from the FBI, the DHS, the HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA,” said Matt Taibbi, former Rolling Stone editor.
Michael Shellenberger, another Twitter Files author, named this new industry perpetrated by NewsGuard as the “censorship-industrial complex.”
The Florida congressman’s biggest concern seemed to be that companies, such as NewsGuard, are doing these unfair practices while being funded by U.S. taxpayers.
“The directing of revenue to certain media companies over other media companies designed and implemented with U.S. government funding and support,” the Republican said.