Conservative politicians and commentators are criticizing the Biden administration for creating a new bureau to fight the spread of disinformation online. Several of these critics have compared it unfavorably to the Ministry of Truth, a fictional department in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified during a budget hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security that a Disinformation Governance Board had recently been created to fight the spread of disinformation on the internet. During a Thursday press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged the board’s existence and noted that President Joe Biden supported it.
Psaki said she couldn’t provide many details other than saying the bureau would monitor misinformation on topics such as COVID-19 and elections.
Critics say the bureau is another example of the government trying to police free speech on the internet. This has led to some comparisons to 1984’s Ministry of Truth. The protagonist of Orwell’s classic, Winston Smith, works in the ministry, a governmental department that controls information coming from news, entertainment, arts and education. Smith’s role at the ministry is to correct historical records to align with the messaging of Big Brother, the leader/symbol of the novel’s ruling totalitarian party.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas was among the lawmakers who condemned the bureau on Twitter while likening it to Orwell’s fictional department.
“The Federal Government has no business creating a Ministry of Truth,” Cotton wrote. “The Department of Homeland Security’s ‘Disinformation Board’ is unconstitutional and unAmerican, and I’ll be introducing a bill to defund it.”
www.newsweek.com/joe-bidens-disinformation-board-likened-orwells-ministry-truth-1702190