America is facing an “existential threat” from a “vast censorship enterprise,” according to Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri.
“This vast censorship enterprise represents an existential threat to the American way of life,” Schmitt said in a statement to The Federalist. “Over the past decade, we’ve watched as a global system of government bureaucrats, shadowy NGOs, Big Tech companies, and far-left activist groups have worked hand-in-glove to censor Americans.”
The federal government’s anti-speech activities have been obvious for years — from censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story to silencing concerns about the Covid-19 vaccine to targeting conservative media like The Federalist. But today, Schmitt published a thread on X illustrating how components of this vast censorship-industrial complex have been colluding to control public discourse.
“The censorship-industrial complex wasn’t built overnight. It’s been festering for years,” Schmitt posted to X. “But the Biden administration mobilized an unholy alliance of government power, taxpayer dollars, NGOs and Big Tech companies to build it into a global censorship powerhouse.”
“Seemingly every agency” participated in the censorship-industrial complex, Schmitt posted, including the CIA, DHS, FBI and NSA — and even USAID, FEMA, and the National Science Foundation. They operated as “one cohesive class,” with a “revolving door between the ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres.”
While serving as Missouri attorney general in 2022, Schmitt filed a lawsuit — Murthy v. Missouri, originally Missouri v. Biden — alongside Louisiana’s now-Gov. Jeff Landry alleging former President Joe Biden’s administration collaborated with Big Tech companies to censor Americans’ speech online, violating the First Amendment. The Supreme Court returned the case to a lower court last fall, enabling Big Tech to continue colluding with government to censor speech online. A judge has since paused the litigation.
“As Missouri Attorney General, I was proud to stand up for the American people by filing Missouri v. Biden to combat this vast censorship enterprise,” Schmitt told The Federalist. “That case helped expose how intimately involved the Biden administration was in the campaign to subvert Americans’ First Amendment rights online.”
Schmitt told The Federalist he looks forward to “working with my colleagues in the Senate” and with President Donald Trump’s administration to “continue to bring this issue to light and finally put a stop to it.”
Government Collusion
The government agencies Schmitt listed have recent histories fraught with censorship efforts. The State Department used its now-defunct Global Engagement Center to push Big Tech companies to join “Disinfo Cloud” — a repository of censorship “tools and technologies” administered by a private firm. The State Department and GEC — along with the Defense Department’s U.S. Cyber Command — also approved contracts with NewsGuard, which helps censor and suppress unapproved speech deemed “disinformation” by rating media outlets. According to Schmitt, its advisory board included “former heads of the CIA and NSA, DHS, and the GEC.”
The GEC also funded the Global Disinformation Index, a London-based group that downranks and deplatforms outlets guilty of speech it deems “disinformation.” According to UnHerd, GDI ranked leftist outlets like the HuffPost, Buzzfeed News, and The Washington Post among the “least dangerous,” and conservative outlets like The Federalist, The Daily Wire, and the New York Post among the “most dangerous,” prompting The Federalist, The Daily Wire, and the State of Texas to sue the State Department for First Amendment violations. Schmitt helped lead the charge to shut down the GEC.
FEMA awarded a $2.6 million contract in 2023 to the private firm Guidehouse to “analyze ‘misinformation and disinformation,’” according to the Foundation for Freedom Online, which found Guidehouse “engages” social media platforms for clients “to report ‘mis- and disinformation.’”
FEMA falls under the Department of Homeland Security, which incubated the “Election Integrity Partnership — formed “at the request” of CISA, the federal government’s online censorship hub, in 2020. The EIP, under the Stanford Internet Observatory, worked “directly” with DHS and the GEC to “monitor and censor Americans’ online speech in advance of the 2020 presidential election.”
CISA also formed a “counter-disinformation” coalition ahead of the 2020 election. Around the same time, the subagency worked with “Zuckbucks” groups and targeted election speech it deemed “mis-, dis-, and malinformation.” CISA was initially focused on countering “foreign” cybersecurity threats, but according to a U.S. House report, it was turned on the American people.
As Schmitt noted, the National Science Foundation gave $5.7 million to Meedan, “a nonprofit building surveillance tools to monitor private WhatsApp messages.” As The Federalist previously reported, Meedan is a “partner” with the University of Michigan’s online censorship tool “WiseDex” — which enables “fast, comprehensive misinformation enforcement.”
NSF also gave $5.75 million to Course Correct, which is artificial intelligence technology created by the University of Wisconsin for “tracking and censoring ‘misinformation.’” Additionally, NSF gave $2.25 million to the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public for “mitigating online disinformation.”
‘Nongovernmental’ Speech Police
Schmitt called out the “revolving door” between the government and so-called “nongovernmental” groups that enforce regime censorship. “Former government officials populate the advisory boards of these ‘disinformation’ groups — and vice versa,” he said.
The numerous attempts to censor content on X provide compelling evidence for Schmitt’s “revolving door” contention. After Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, he drastically changed the platform’s policy to embrace free speech. This soon drew the ire of left-wing groups. The Anti-Defamation League, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, and Institute for Strategic Dialogue — which have close ties to government actors — demanded more censorship.
After the ADL alleged X was enabling antisemitic speech, Musk said the platform’s ad revenue plunged 60 percent due to pressure from the group. ADL currently “works closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement” to whom it offers “information and intelligence” and “informational briefings” on groups it deems extremist.
Similarly, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue alleged “a major and sustained spike in antisemitic posts” on X since Musk’s purchase. The ISD is a London group criticized for censoring conservative opinions online by labeling them “misinformation,” according to InfluenceWatch. As The Federalist previously reported, the State Department funded ISD’s research through Disinfo Cloud.
Another London group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, allegedly said in internal documents one of its strategic priorities was to “kill Musk’s Twitter.” According to InfluenceWatch, the group targets what it deems “hate groups” with “de-platforming campaigns.” CCDH colluded with NBC News in 2020 to target The Federalist, attempting to strip its Google ad revenue.
This all goes to show that the censorship-industrial complex is rife with public-private collusion to stifle Americans’ speech. Schmitt said that his thread on X was “just the tip of the iceberg.”
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.
