(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Federal government officials have been caught attempting to censor what they deem to be misinformation and disinformation coming from their opponents.
The National Science Foundation has granted $39 million in grants and contracts in 2021 and 2022 for projects combating alleged misinformation or disinformation.
According to Just the News, many of the projects pertain to COVID-19 and elections.
Hacks/Hackers, an anti-misinformation think tank specifically for journalists received one of two contracts for $3.7 million and possibly $2 million more for “expert-informed resources… to address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
Another group called Meedan received $3.2 million to develop “fact-checker” and “community collaboration tools” for “combating hate, abuse and misinformation with minority led partnerships.”
Both groups received an additional $5 million in grants from the NSF’s Convergence Accelerator, which “builds upon basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions toward societal impact.”
Several other groups received awards from what is called Track F, or the “Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems.” NSF gifted a total of $21 million in grants to universities.
George Washington University received $4 million total, with $200,000 of it specifically dedicated to study how “populist politicians distorted COVID-19 pandemic health communication,” allegedly to increase distrust among citizens and make them “more vulnerable to misinformation generally.”
Researchers will also look into “how best to counter these populist narratives” in the U.S., Brazil, Poland and Serbia.
The federal government also provided funding towards a game aimed at “inoculat[ing]” young students against misinformation.
The game, called “Cat Park,” teaches the players that opposing government corruption is a form of misinformation. U.S. Ambassadors will be promoting the game, which the Department of State commissioned and funded.
“It took two and a half centuries for America to build its reputation as the beacon of freedom,” said former State official Mike Benz.
“And it took about two and a half years to critically undermine that, but it’s not dead.”
Benz also explained that the government is working ahead to “pre-bunk” unfavorable narrative, such as the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop.
 Federal government officials have been caught attempting to censor what they deem to be misinformation and disinformation coming from their opponents.){kind=link}