WASHINGTON (AP) – The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday halted a new and controversial disinformation board and accepted its leader’s resignation, limiting weeks of fears about violations of free speech and fierce conspiracy theories about the board itself.
Former disinformation board director Nina Jankovic told the Associated Press hours after resigning Wednesday that the wave of attacks and violent threats she has made since the board took office will not stop her from talking about disinformation campaigns that pulsate on Americans’ social media.
“We need to talk to adults about how to deal with threats to our national security, and that’s not what happened here,” Jankovic said. “I will not be silenced.”
What remains to be seen is how the catastrophic introduction of the board and the subsequent criticism surrounding it will harm the ongoing US efforts to counter disinformation used as weapons by Russia and other opponents. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged that the controversy on the board had dissipated the department’s other work, which included defending US elections, two officials familiar with his decision said.
Although the board has not been officially closed, it will be reviewed by members of the DHS Advisory Board, which is expected to make recommendations in 75 days. The Washington Post first announced a break on board.
Federal and state agencies treat disinformation as a threat to national security. In a statement announcing its launch, DHS said the new initiative would coordinate efforts over threats from Russian disinformation campaigns targeting the United States and false allegations that encourage migrants to travel to the US-Mexico border.
The new board has been hampered from the outset by questions about its purpose, funding and work, which Majorca has struggled to answer, even when it appeared before Capitol Hill lawmakers earlier this month.
Mallorca has decided to pause the board after a backlash and growing fears that it is hampering DHS’s other disinformation work, according to two department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
“The council has been grossly and deliberately misinterpreted: it has never been about censorship or police speech in any way,” the department said in a statement. “It was created to ensure that we fulfill our mission to protect the homeland while protecting fundamental constitutional rights.
White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre noted that the board had never met and neither the department nor Jankovic had the power to censor or remove content labeled misinformation.
DHS officials sought to allay fears about how the board would affect freedom of speech and online privacy issues by describing it as an internal working group designed to investigate the department’s definitions of misinformation.
But opponents remained unconvinced of the work and purpose of the board.
Senior Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee’s intelligence and home affairs committees issued a joint statement Wednesday calling the board a “political tool to be used by the ruling party.”
“This council has only been able to confirm that the Department of Homeland Security’s priorities are seriously wrong,” wrote representatives Mike Turner of Ohio and John Catko of New York, who said earlier that DHS had not disclosed information about the program.
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told the Mayorkas that the board was a “terrible idea” that told the world we were going to spread propaganda in our own country.
Twenty Republican attorneys general, led by Jason Miares of Virginia, have threatened Mallorca with lawsuits against the board, “unless you return now and immediately dissolve this Orwell Disinformation Management Council,” Miares said in a statement.
Reception online and on conservative television broadcasts to the board was even worse.
The phrase “Ministry of Truth” – a reference to George Orwell’s “1984” – appeared on Twitter in the board’s discussions. Conservative experts and social media users have been spreading conspiracy theories and lies about its purpose, with some falsely claiming that the board was quickly developed by DHS in response to billionaire Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter. Others make false allegations that Jankovic plans to edit the tweets of daily Twitter users.
“It was really wrong from the start,” said Cindy Otis, a disinformation researcher and former CIA analyst.
Disinformation experts have warned that the dispute over the board could hurt existing efforts to identify and stop the spread of fake election stories and hot issues in American society.
Russia has tried to influence the last two presidential elections by spreading fake stories and using social media to fuel divisions in American society over issues such as race and the coronavirus pandemic. She continued to spread false and misleading stories about her invasion of Ukraine. U.S. intelligence officials have also accused China and Iran of spreading misinformation to Americans. DHS has several ongoing programs to counter misinformation, including the US Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency’s efforts to debunk allegations of election fraud.
But Otis warned: “It would be a pity if they just decided that misinformation was a very publicly sensitive issue.
Jankovic has also become a center of sexist and anti-Semitic attacks and even death threats online. A person from Fox News recently asked if Jankovic should have agreed to lead the board while she was pregnant.
Jankovic said Wednesday that he reports violent threats that come daily through phone calls, emails or Twitter messages. Some include threats of rape or death. Others encouraged her to commit suicide.
“It was awful. It was constant,” she said. “It’s obviously really scary and really unpleasant. I was trying to do important work to protect Americans from a real threat.”
The department, she said, has failed to address concerns about confidentiality and freedom of speech around onboard work.
Other critics have suggested that Jankovic is too biased about the job, citing statements he made that called into question the origins of a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden, the president’s eldest son, and re-released a video in TikTok, which she recorded for misinformation to the tune of a song by “Mary Poppins”.
Supporters of Jankovic have accused the department of not doing enough to protect it from trolls and online attacks.
“It is deeply disappointing that the wrong characteristics of the board have become a distraction from the vital work of the department and indeed, together with recent events on a global and national scale, it embodies why it is necessary,” Jankovic wrote in his resignation letter.
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