Dwight D. Eisenhower, the outgoing president and former Supreme Allied Commander, delivered one of the most important speeches in American history on January 17, 1960. For eight years, Eisenhower had been a well-liked president whose appeal drew from a reputation as a man of remarkable personal fortitude who had led the United States to victory in a war that was fundamentally about survival. However, he cautioned the nation that it was now at the mercy of a power even he could not defeat as he prepared to leave the Oval Office to John F. Kennedy.
America lacked a significant permanent arms manufacturing sector prior to World War II. Now that it did, according to Eisenhower, this new sector was creating a social, economic, and political support network around itself that was gaining tremendous influence. He stated that this “conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience,” adding:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes… Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Today, a list has been compiled of those involved in the Censorship-Industrial Complex. Financial outlet Zero-Hedge posted the list on its site. The site claims that Facebook banned the article, proving that it’s real.
Here are the top organizations in the Censorship-Industrial Complex as mentioned by the outlet:
1. Information Futures Lab (IFL) at Brown University (formerly, First Draft):
Link: https://sites.brown.edu/informationfutures/ / https://First Draftnews.org/
Type: A university institute, housed within the School of Public Health, to combat “misinformation” and “outdated communications practices.” The successor to First Draft, one of the earliest and more prominent “anti-disinformation” outfits.
2. Meedan
Link: https://meedan.com/
Type: Medium-sized non-profit specializing in technology and countering “disinformation.”
You may have read about them when: Meedan ran a range of Covid-19 misinformation initiatives “to support pandemic fact-checking efforts” with funding from BigTech, the Omidyar Foundation, the National Science Foundation and more.
3. Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy (Technology and Social Change Project)
Link: https://shorensteincenter.org/programs/technology-social-change/
Type: An elite academic project once regarded as one of the leading centers in the “anti-disinformation” field.
You may have read about them when: It was announced that the center would be closed in 2024 on the spurious grounds that project lead Joan Donovan lacked sufficient academic credentials to run the initiative (what was spurious is that it took that long for this realization to come about).
4. The Public Good Projects
Link: https://www.publicgoodprojects.org/
Type: Non-profit consultancy, specializing in health communications, marketing, technology and “disinformation.”
You may have read about them when: Whilst PGP seem to do some front-facing work, they are also guns for hire for a large range of corporate and government programs. Twitter files show PGP had contracts with biotech lobby group BIO (whose members include Pfizer and Moderna) to run the Stronger campaign, which according to Lee Fang “worked w/Twitter to set content moderation rules around covid ‘misinformation.’”
5. Graphika
Link: https://www.graphika.com/
Type: For-profit firm with defense connections specializing in “digital marketing and disinformation & analysis.”
You may have read about them when: Graphika was one of two outside groups hired in 2017 by the Senate Intelligence Committee to assess the Russian cyber menace. Graphika was also a “core four” partner to Stanford’s Election Integrity Partnership and its Virality Project, both subjects of #TwitterFiles reports. Made headlines for claiming a leak of US-UK trade discussions, publicized by Jeremy Corbyn, was part of an operation called “secondary Infektion” traceable to Russia.
6. Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLabs) of the Atlantic Council
Link: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/programs/digital-forensic-research-lab/
Type: Public-facing disinformation research arm of highly influential, extravagantly funded, NATO-aligned think tank, the Atlantic Council.
You may have read about them when: In May of 2018, Facebook announced a “New Election Partnership With the Atlantic Council,” to “prevent our service from being abused during elections.”
7. Stanford Internet Observatory
Link: https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io
Type: Academic research institution
You may have read about them when: The SIO is the parent of two foundational efforts at mass content surveillance and censorship: the “Election Integrity Partnership” created ahead of the 2020 presidential vote, and the “Virality Project” that created a single ticketing system for six major internet platforms for “misinformation” related to Covid-19 vaccines.
8. Poynter Institute / International Fact-Checking Network
Link: https://www.poynter.org/; https://www.poynter.org/ifcn/
Type: Private think tank, once known as a media advocacy operation, now known more for the IFCN, which is essentially the in-house fact-checking arm of Facebook/Meta, as well as the fact-checking hub Politifact. Also produces the reporter-friendly widget MediaWise.
You may have read about them when: Trump was elected and Poynter sent an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg on behalf of “independent fact-checking organizations” telling him “Facebook should start an open conversation on the principles that could underpin a more accurate news ecosystem,” which Zuckerberg correctly interpreted as a call for his investment in those same organizations.
The incredibly in-depth and lengthy article with all 50 organizations can be read on Zero Hedge.
