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DHS efforts to curb “dangerous” speechThe federal government’s guidelines to counter “misinformation” and “disinformation” – what we might more accurately describe as Big Brother’s Playbook – has been released. The US government and its allies, including media gatekeepers and educational institutions and global corporations, have become the judges and juries of “misinformation.”And Big Tech is their executioner.According to recently-filed court documents in Missouri v. Biden that were made available by The Intercept (big hat tip to Lee Fang and Ken Klippenstein), “The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous.”We’ve highlighted the key points of these court documents with screenshots below. Read it all – it’s especially relevant to the 2022 and 2024 elections.DHS is “directly engaging with social media companies to flag MDM” (MDM is defined as mis-information, dis-information, and mal-information). It is doing so “Ahead of midterm elections in 2022” and is readying its efforts with eyes focused on 2024:DHS is questioning how to “inspire innovators to partner with the government” without this “being seen as government ‘propaganda’”.The “rapid response team would need to surge for short periods of time around elections.”It recognizes the system’s vulnerabilities to what it considers disinformation: “The spread of false and misleading information poses a significant risk to critical functions like elections, public health, financial services, and emergency response.”The DHS focus on disinformation isn’t limited to elections. It is recommended to focuses on misinformation “that undermines critical functions carried out by other key democratic institutions, such as the courts, or by other sectors such as the financial system, or public health measures.”DHS has recognized four specific dimensions of disinformation to counter. It is recommended to: (1) Build a society resilient to misinformation/disinformation; (2) Proactively address anticipated misinformation/disinformation threats; (3) Rapidly responding to emergency or persistent informational threats; and (4) Countering actor-based threats.The DHS plan would “provide financial support” to non-governmental partners who counter “false and misleading narratives.” In other words, US government contractors who would receive funding to suffocate anti-government narratives.Then there was the disclosure of e-mails between the tech platforms and the Biden Administration discussing the flagging or removal of content that questioned COVID-19 vaccines.E-mails from HHS to marketing contractors and Google to hide videos of CDC Director Rochelle Walensky due to having an “accuracy issue.”