Like it or not, propaganda works and most of the world gets their information through the internet.
A critical piece was tacked onto the end of an important appropriations bill.
Check out section 7069 at the very end of the text:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-...bill/8595/text
limitation on the use of funds made available for certain online speech-related activities
Sec. 7069. (a) Prohibition.—None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act, or prior Acts making appropriations for national security, Department of State, and related programs, may be made available, directly or indirectly, to carry out any activity the purpose of which is to—
(1) deplatform, deboost, demonetize, suppress, or otherwise penalize what in the United States would constitute lawful online speech, a lawful news outlet, or lawful social media account activity;
(2) induce, encourage, coordinate with, or assist any social media company or online platform or intermediary to adopt or enforce any policy or practice that could be expected to deplatform, deboost, demonetize, suppress or otherwise penalize what in the United States would constitute lawful online speech from any news entity or social media account;
(3) induce, encourage, coordinate with, or assist any foreign government, regulator, policymaker, judicial officer, administrative body, supranational body, or international organization to adopt, interpret, or enforce any law, regulation, order, mechanism, or other measure that could be expected to deplatform, deboost, demonetize, suppress, or otherwise penalize what in the United States would constitute lawful online speech from any news entity or social media account;
(4) induce, encourage, coordinate with, fund, or support any person or entity in the online advertising or monetization ecosystem to cut off, reduce, redirect, or otherwise interfere with advertising, sponsorship, payment, or other revenue on the basis of lawful online speech, news production, editorial viewpoint, political viewpoint, or social media activity;
(5) fund, participate in, coordinate with, or support any “platform accountability”, “information integrity”, “brand safety”, “disinformation”, “misinformation”, “hate speech”, “trust and safety”, “media literacy”, “digital literacy” or similar program or initiative if the purpose or foreseeable effect is to impose legal, regulatory, financial, reputational, commercial, or political costs on a United States-based technology company, United States-based social media platform, United States-based online intermediary, or United States-based digital publisher for carrying speech protected from governmental abridgment by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;
(6) support, fund, facilitate, coordinate with, or assist any entity in supporting, drafting, promoting, defending, implementing, interpreting, enforcing, or operationalizing any foreign law, regulation, code, judicial or administrative structure, or enforcement mechanism that imposes costs on a United States-based technology company or United States-based social media platform for hosting speech that would be protected from government action under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; or
(7) create, disseminate, share, or operationalize any blacklist or similar designation system that is used, or is reasonably likely to be used, to support an activity prohibited under paragraphs (1) through (6).
(b) Rule Of Construction.—Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit the use of funds for the investigation or reporting of conduct constituting a Federal criminal offense, foreign terrorist activity, espionage, sanctions evasion, unlawful foreign intelligence activity, child sexual abuse material, or human trafficking, if such activity is not used as a pretext for conduct otherwise prohibited by this section.
(c) Reporting Requirement.—Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 120 days thereafter until September 30, 2027, the head of each department, agency or organization funded in the Act shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations a report, in unclassified form, that—
(1) identifies each grant, subgrant, contract, subaward, cooperative agreement, fellowship, consultancy, working group, coalition, or partnership funded in whole or in part with amounts covered by this section;
(2) identifies whether any such activity concerns content moderation, misinformation, disinformation, platform governance, platform accountability, advertiser pressure, brand safety, monetization, or foreign digital-services regulation;
(3) describes the steps taken to ensure compliance with this section;
(4) lists each foreign law, regulation, judicial or administrative proceeding, and policy initiative on which each department, agency or organization funded in the Act, or any recipient of funds made available to such department, agency or organization, has provided financial support, technical assistance, policy advocacy, research support, expert consultation, judicial education, or implementation support; and
(5) to the extent that such reporting requirements might reasonably be expected to compromise the physical security of individual grantees or recipients operating in dangerous regions or conflict zones, the requirements of subsections (c)(1)-(4) herein may be submitted using anonymized records or information for such sensitive programs.
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