As independent journalist Glenn Greenwald put it so well in a tweet:
The idea that liberal billionaires like Soros and Hoffman (and Omidyar) are going to save society by using their limitless wealth to police the internet for what *they regard as* disinformation, extremism and hate speech is one of the creepiest and dystopic things I've heard.
But that’s exactly what they have in mind, as if billionaire oligarchs didn’t already control a near-decisive portion of the existing online information flow.
According to reporting by Axios, a new public benefit corporation backed by billionaires Reid Hoffman, George Soros, and others launched recently to fund new media companies and efforts that tackle “disinformation.”
Sara Fischer reports the group will be led by Tara McGowan, a Democratic strategist, who previously ran a progressive non-profit called ACRONYM.
ACRONYM invested in for-profit companies that built media and technology solutions for progressive causes. It ran one of the largest digital campaigns to defeat President Trump in the 2020 election, totaling $100 million.
One of the companies it invested in, called Shadow, made headlines last year for contributing to the delayed reporting of the Democrats’ Iowa caucus results.
Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, backed ACRONYM.
Ms. Fischer reports Good Information, Inc. is launching with a multi-million seed investment led by Hoffman and joined by investors Ken and Jen Duda, Incite Ventures, and George Soros.
According to Ms. Fischer’s reporting, Good Information Inc. will invest in new businesses and solutions “that tackle the disinformation crisis.” That could mean funding new or existing companies that boost news from existing news outlets.
Although backed and launched by progressives, McGowan told Axios the group could make investments in entities across the political spectrum so long as their editorial standards support “fact-based information.”
However, Recode reported that, while Ms. McGowan has fans among influential Democrats and donors she has also attracted controversy from journalism groups concerned that her advocacy efforts masquerade as unbiased media.
And true to form, when you look at who is involved in this new venture it is a Who’s Who of Far-Left cancel culture operatives.
The company's advisory committee consists of nearly two dozen Far Left political, media and tech experts, including former White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, Civic Signal Founder Eli Pariser, Check My Ads co-founder Nandini Jammi, former Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times Editor Mark Jacob, Accountable Tech co-founder Nicole Gill and others.
Axios reports Good Information Inc. will acquire Courier Newsroom from ACRONYM for an undisclosed sum as part of the deal. Courier Newsroom is a local news group with a progressive perspective. There are currently over 60 people that work across eight local newsrooms full-time.
Good Information Inc. will also acquire ACRONYM's "FWIW" newsletter, which covers digital political ad spending.
Ms. Fischer reports that Ms. McGowan says that the group's goal in the next year is to “raise more awareness about immediate solutions to counter disinformation before it spreads.”
Translation: Good Information, Inc. will focus its efforts on cancelling, deplatforming and demonetizing viewpoints that deviate from its Far-Left orthodoxy.
McGowan’s MO, as disclosed by her practices in her previous gig, and Hoffman’s acknowledged use of Russian-style disinformation practices, suggest that deception will play a large part in this effort.
Theodore Schleifer reported for Recode, in the run-up to the 2020 election, Acronym planned to invest some $25 million in a progressive news effort called Courier Newsroom, which set up eight different websites with seemingly nonpartisan, homespun names like “UpNorth News” in Wisconsin and “Keystone” in Pennsylvania.
The publications routinely feature Democratic candidates in favorable lights, and Courier spent millions to promote the articles in Facebook ads. While Courier websites do note that they are heavily backed by the progressive organization, critics felt the disclosures were insufficient and that the newsrooms functioned more like an arm of the Democratic Party than a traditional publication, further muddying the waters for consumers seeking unbiased information. Acronym has said Courier is “factual and transparently progressive.”
We find the claim that there is a “disinformation crisis” and McGown’s further claim that "The information crisis we're in is so much bigger than politics," to be utterly disingenuous.
One need only look at the establishment media’s suppression of the Hunter Biden corruption story, the suppression Georgia and Arizona election deficiencies and outright fraud, and the attendant deplatforming of anyone questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election, the suppression of news about the disastrous situation at the southern border, the deplatforming, demonetizing and professional cancelling of anyone who investigates COVID treatments other than the government-supplied vaccines, and the refusal of the establishment media to acknowledge the Chinese government role in the COVID pandemic, to recognize that if there is a “disinformation crisis” it is one that advances the goals of the progressive Left.
It would be amusing to think this is just a Leftwing grift and Ms. McGowan is soaking these Leftist billionaires for a project that won’t move the needle of public opinion, but when we see something that combines Ms. McGowan’s penchant for deception, the cancel culture credo of her advisory committee and the impetus to market domination of George Soros we find we have to agree with Glenn Greenwald: The idea that liberal billionaires like Soros and Hoffman (and Omidyar) are going to save society by using their limitless wealth to police the internet for what *they regard as* disinformation, extremism and hate speech is one of the creepiest and dystopic things I've heard.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he earned his first newspaper byline in 1976 for an article in The Goshen (Indiana) News. His family began in the newspaper business in 1831.
George Soros
Glenn Greenwald
free speech
social media
online information flow
disinformation
Reid Hoffman
Tara McGowan
ACRONYM
Good Information Inc.
cancel Culture
deplatforming
Courier Newsroom