The records show the Soros-backed Foundation to Promote Open Society, a major grantmaking organization, sent $250,000 in 2023 to Disinformation Index, Inc., the American outpost of the Global Disinformation Index. That British group, which previously received $150,000 from Soros along with funding from the State Department, has faced “censorship” scrutiny from Congress ever since a series of Washington Examiner reports shed light on its efforts to defund news outlets in the U.S.

“If the American people had any doubt that there is a well-funded and well-connected effort to censor free speech in America, documents like these remove any doubt,” said Gene Hamilton, executive director of America First Legal, a group of ex-Trump administration officials investigating alleged censorship efforts by the Biden-Harris administration.

News of the Soros-backed check comes as the GDI returns to the spotlight after the 2023 Washington Examiner stories, which prompted congressional oversight, lawsuits against the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, and a new Defense Department law banning certain funding to the GDI. A provision through the annual State Department funding bill, which passed the House this summer and is being negotiated in the Senate, seeks to ban future funding to the GEC.

Meanwhile, the New York Post reported this month on internal documents that, according to the outlet, were used by the State Department to discredit the Washington Examiner, “Twitter Files” journalist Matt Taibbi, and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) regarding apparent censorship reporting. On Monday, the Indiana Republican sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to demand answers on the memo. That’s because the memo appeared to try to link Banks falsely to a Russian state-controlled media outlet.

“In response to Mr. Kaminsky’s reporting, the State Department sent out press guidance defending its attempted suppression of U.S. news organizations,” Banks wrote in the letter to Blinken. “That guidance misleadingly changes a quote that I sent to Gabe Kaminsky and the Washington Examiner criticizing the GEC. The intentional misquotation gives the impression that I had been speaking with a Russian propaganda outlet.”

The 2023 grant from the Soros-funded group was “to educate the public about disinformation and its harms,” according to funding records.

But the grant is not the only one from the Soros philanthropy network for efforts to thwart alleged disinformation or misinformation — a practice that Republicans in Congress have deemed politically biased and equivalent to censorship.

The Soros-backed Open Society Institute directed $100,000 in 2023 to the Atlantic Council to help fight “disinformation,” with the activity geared toward South Africa, according to the grant earmark. As a whole, Soros steered $1 million last year to the Atlantic Council for initiatives, the records show.

The Atlantic Council partnered on the prior state-funded initiative that resulted in the GDI receiving the $100,000 grant in 2021 from the Global Engagement Center, the Washington Examiner reported. The Atlantic Council also came under fire in Taibbi’s reporting on internal documents from Twitter, now known as X, showing its ties to apparent censorship efforts.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue received $100,000 in 2023 from the Soros-backed Alliance for Open Society International “to support research on countering disinformation in Germany,” according to funding records. The London-based think tank received State Department funds and “works to police” social media platforms for supposed “disinformation” or “misinformation” peddled by conservatives, journalist Ailan Evans reported.

Like the Atlantic Council, the ISD also partnered on the program that led to the GDI receiving state funding, records show.

The Soros-backed Open Society also steered $500,000 in 2023 to Media Matters Action Network “to support the grantee’s nonpartisan research and work on combatting online disinformation,” according to funding records. Media Matters Action Network is tied to the broader progressive Media Matters for America group founded by Democratic operative David Brock.

Moreover, the philanthropy of Soros granted almost $8 million combined last year to Global Witness, a left-wing British group pressuring social media companies to fight “disinformation” and “misinformation” online.

“From funding pro-criminal prosecutors to backing anti-free speech organizations, George Soros has a long track record of attempting to shred the fabric of our Republic,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who has sought to ban federal funding to “censorship” groups, told the Washington Examiner.

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“Any steps taken to support groups censoring the American people in the name of combating ‘disinformation’ is unacceptable and, frankly, un-American,” Clyde said. “Congress has a responsibility to investigate funds — including taxpayer dollars — bankrolling efforts to unjustly silence conservative views, voices, and media organizations.”

A spokesperson for Soros’s philanthropy network did not return a request for comment.