Microsoft aims to smoothly transition from one presidential administration to the next. The company recently secured a major win in DC, receiving the official blessing of the President in a $500 billion AI investment partnership between SoftBank, Oracle, and Microsoft’s OpenAI. But as official policy turns against online censorship, the tech giant may have to…
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As the Foundation for Freedom Online recently reported, Microsoft stands out among tech companies for its commitment to censorship policies pushed by the previous administration. Previous FFO articles have explored the involvement of Microsoft employees in the creation of DHS’s “disinformation governance board,” and its role pushing “psychological inoculation” techniques to prime the public against…
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Matthew Masterson, currently Microsoft’s “director of information integrity,” is a deep state alumni, serving in a variety of roles across the Federal government including Senior Cybersecurity Advisor at the Department of Homeland Security (focused on “election security”), as well as the Election Assistance Commission. Hired by Microsoft in January 2022, he also previously worked at…
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The federal government is sending billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money to four of the big six global advertising agencies, which include some of the leading architects of online censorship. These multinational corporations have spent much of the last decade demanding online censorship of “hate speech,” “disinformation,” and “harmful content” on social media platforms,…
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SUMMARY The advertising industry plays a pivotal role in online censorship through collective boycotts of platforms and websites that host disfavored content. Two organizations that led the way on boycotting and financial blacklisting, Sleeping Giants and NewsGuard, emerged directly from the advertising industry. Brand and advertising agencies typically use the pretext of “brand safety” for…
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The keystone of the censorship industry’s branding operation is its claim to be is non-partisan. It doesn’t censor particular viewpoints – it censors “disinformation.” It doesn’t persecute its political opponents – it monitors “extremists.” It doesn’t interfere in elections on behalf of particular parties or candidates – it simply defends “election integrity.” Every major censorship…
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SUMMARY Establishment media companies are facing a decline in their dominance due to competition from decentralized media. Some media figures have used recent layoffs at news companies to claim the industry is facing a crisis. In the U.S., these efforts have coalesced around the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), which would funnel money from…
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