House
Quietly Passes Bill Targeting "Russian Propaganda" Websites
2
December, 2016
On
November 30, one week after the Washington Post launched its witch
hunt against "Russian propaganda fake news", with 390 votes
for, the House quietly passed "H.R.
6393, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017",
sponsored by California Republican Devin Nunes (whose third largest
donor in 2016 is Google parent Alphabet, Inc), a bill which deals
with a number of intelligence-related issues, including Russian
propaganda, or what the government calls propaganda, and hints at a
potential crackdown on "offenders."
A
quick skim of the bill reveals "Title V—Matters relating to
foreign countries", whose Section 501 calls for the government
to "counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence
… carried out in coordination with, or at the behest of, political
leaders or the security services of the Russian Federation and the
role of the Russian Federation has been hidden or not acknowledged
publicly.”
The
section lists the following definitions of media manipulation:
Establishment
or funding of a front group.
Covert
broadcasting.
Media
manipulation.
Disinformation
and forgeries.
Funding
agents of influence.
Incitement
and offensive counterintelligence.
Assassinations.
Terrorist
acts.
As
ActivistPost correctly notes, it is easy to see how this law, if
passed by the Senate and signed by the president, could be used to
target, threaten, or eliminate so-called “fake news” websites, a
list which has been used to arbitrarily define any website, or blog,
that does not share the mainstream media's proclivity to serve as the
Public Relations arm of a given administration.
Curiously,
the bill which was passed on November 30, was introduced on November
22, two days before the Washington Post published its Nov. 24 article
citing "experts" who claim Russian propaganda helped Donald
Trump get elected.
As
we reported last week, in an article that has been widely blasted,
the WaPo wrote that "two teams of independent researchers found
that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to
attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an
insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the
White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate
efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on “fake news,” as
they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem."
The
newspaper cited PropOrNot, an anonymous website that posted a hit
list of alternative media websites, including Zero Hedge, Drudge
Report, Activist Post, Blacklisted News, the Ron Paul Report, and
many others. Glenn Greenwald penned an appropriate response two days
later in "Washington
Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New,
Hidden, and Very Shady Group."
PropOrNot
has pushed a conspiratorial thesis, without any actual proof, that
the listed websites have been either used directly or covertly by the
Russians to spread propaganda.
While
the bill passed the House with a sweeping majority, it is unknown if
and when the bill will work its way through the Senate and be passed
into law, although one would think that it has far higher chances of
passing under president Obama than the President-Elect. It is also
unclear if it will be used to shut down websites anonymously
characterized as "useful idiots" or subversive elements
used in disseminating supposed Russian propaganda.
Those
interested can read the full "H.R. 6393: Intelligence
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017" at the following
location" bill that may soon proclaim much of the internet to be
criminal "Russian propaganda" at the
following link
From Glenn Greenwald
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