Washington Examiner investigative journalist Gabe Kaminsky called the State Department’s response regarding its lack of communication amid being asked for information regarding Global Engagement Center funding “ironic.”
Kaminsky joined Matt Taibbi, author behind the Twitter Files on Unherd’s Undercurrents podcast Wednesday. Kaminsky and Taibbi discussed their efforts to bring to light examples of the State Department’s GEC being linked to apparent censorship.
Taibbi has reported that the GEC was pressuring social media platforms, such as X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook to suppress posts and information related to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the Washington Examiner reported on the GEC awarding a $100,000 grant to the London-based Global Disinformation Index in 2021 and 2021, which then made a list of 10 outlets with Republican and libertarian-leaning opinion sections in an effort to blackball them from top advertisers.
Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) is joined by award-winning reporters @mtaibbi and @gekaminsky, who were recently revealed to be the targets of a State Department campaign that sought to discredit their reporting on the government's support for censorship. pic.twitter.com/GzCz8omBP8
— UnHerd (@unherd) September 18, 2024
The State Department has since said it had no part in funding the GDI, nor was it asked for an interview.
“There’s an ironic nature of that line, ‘he did not ask for an interview,’ because right before it, it says, ‘Gabe Kaminsky sent repeated questions to the State Department. He did not ask for an interview,’” Kaminsky said. “They didn’t answer a lot of my repeated questions. I asked a lot — over roughly 12 emails in January and February. I asked really basic questions that anyone should be able to get from their government.”
“They didn’t answer a lot of questions I had asked about that funding,” Kaminsky added.
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The State Department is denying any involvement in censoring people in the United States.
“The Department of State has been and continues to be responsive to dozens of reporters’ requests for comment and congressional inquiries,” a spokesperson said. “The bottom line remains the same: the Global Engagement Center does not engage in censorship, and it is focused on countering foreign disinformation overseas, not on the domestic information environment.”