The leader of a government-tied, election-interfering censorship group is griping that pressuring tech companies to crush speech has become harder.
Fast Company published a Nov. 21 article featuring Kate Starbird, a leader of the government-tied Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). In statements to Fast Company, Starbird whined that Republican and independent efforts to expose the federal Censorship Industrial Complex have made the work of so-called “disinformation” researchers harder, as social media companies are somewhat more cautious about wholesale suppression of free speech. The piece also cited a George Soros-funded institute.
“It’s an open question going into 2024 if [election officials] are going to pick up the phone,” Starbird complained, alleging “smear campaigns” that “can take a heavy emotional toll.” Yet in 2020 and 2022, EIP expressed no concern for the Americans who were silenced through their flagging and pressuring activities. Starbird’s complaints ring particularly hollow after a Twitter Files installment corroborated a House Judiciary Committee report accusing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of playing a leading role in creating a system (EIP) to shut down election “misinformation” online, an anti-First Amendment action.
But government censorship surrogate EIP wasn’t the only questionable source Fast Company cited. The outlet also quoted Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson arguing for increased government-private coordination. “There have been deterrents to collaboration, but at the same time there’s been more incentive for collaboration than ever before,” Benson said at an Aspen Institute summit. Notably, the Aspen Institute has received major donations from leftist billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF).
The OSF granted over a million dollars to Aspen Institute in multiple grants between 2016 and 2022, online records show. In 2022 alone, OSF gave the Aspen Institute two grants of $350,000 and $400,000, respectively.
Fast Company betrayed its own bias by citing Accountable Tech, which proudly ran a campaign to “keep [Donald] Trump off Facebook.” Now Accountable Tech has shifted from demanding censorship of particular content to pressuring tech companies to implement new restrictions and “safeguards.” The outlet also mournfully noted that X (formerly known as Twitter) under Elon Musk is not responsive to censorship demands.
The article ended with Starbird again, insisting she will not cease her work to crush free speech in coordination with the government and Big Tech.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand government agencies and Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
