When it was revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was setting up the “Disinformation Governance Board” to monitor and deal with “misinformation,” many likened it to the “Ministry of Truth” from the George Orwell classic novel “1984.” The backlash rippled through the halls of Congress and the media, causing DHS to scrap the program, but not before Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to determine what DHS was monitoring.

DHS’s mission is to protect the homeland, but according to uncovered documents, the Disinformation Governance Board was tracking the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada. The “Freedom Convoy” was a group of truckers protesting authoritarian rules the Canadian government put in place, using COVID as an excuse. The truckers had their bank account seized, and those who donated to the truckers faced the wrath of Justin Trudeau and his left-wing administration.

Not only was DHS monitoring an international protest happening in another country, but it also talked about ways to engage with Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Twitter (now X) to share information about the “Freedom Convoy,” including alleged terms of service (ToS) violations. The idea of working with the social media tech giants to censor the “Freedom Convoy” was in response to an article highlighting Meta deplatforming the truckers. It seems like DHS was on board with helping the efforts to censor the truckers.

“Next, I asked l&A about recent media reports about foreign accounts spreading or generating content associated with the Freedom Convoy (news about Meta taking action to deplatform these accounts broke right before the meeting),” the email reads. “l&A had some feedback about its capabilities in this area which I look forward to sharing with you. We discussed whether engaging with Meta and Twitter to share information convoy related matters (inauthentic activity/ violating terms of service) would be prudent. We will circle back with l&A on that tomorrow. CBP is supportive of engagement and is CISA. We agreed that we need to set up a formal structure for these analytic exchanges which PLCY and OGC are working on.”

The government has had a cozy relationship with tech companies in the past. The intelligence agencies have used the “disinformation” tag to silence journalists from reporting on things they would prefer not to see the light of day.

One of the more famous examples is the story of the Hunter Biden laptop by the New York Post. The story before the election was called “disinformation” by the security apparatus. It wasn’t until after his father became President of the United States that the government admitted that the laptop story was real.

Another story that was suppressed by the federal government using the “disinformation” tag was the Ashley Biden diary, which had some concerning information about the relationship between Joe Biden and his daughter Ashley. It didn’t come to light that the diary was real until journalists with copies of the diary started getting arrested.

One piece of real disinformation that didn’t get suppressed by the government, working hand in hand with Silicon Valley tech giants, was the Steele Dossier and Russia Gate. The disinformation was funded and pushed by Hillary Clinton and reported on by almost every legacy media source. Social media platforms let this information be shared freely, and the government didn’t step in to try to stop the baseless claims.

The examples above show the dangers of having a Disinformation Governance Board when political appointees can suppress free speech through their close relationships with those who control the flow of information.

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.