Matt Taibbi: Obama's Executive Order Created the 'Censorship Industrial Complex'

The Genesis of the GEC

• 🎯 Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13721 on March 14, 2016, establishing the Global Engagement Center (GEC) to counter international terrorist messaging.
• 💡 The GEC's initial mandate was to combat propaganda from groups like ISIL and al-Qaeda directed abroad.

GEC's Shift to Domestic Targets

• 🔍 Seven years later, GEC officials were found to be focusing on domestic English-language accounts, including those of Americans with no ties to terror groups or adversary nations.
• ⚠️ Internal communications revealed GEC officials interacting with Twitter executives regarding topics like COVID-19, the 2020 election, and Donald Trump.

Targeting Political Figures and Dissent

• 🗣️ An email exchange showed a Twitter executive expressing concern about GEC officials going to the media with sensationalist claims about foreign bots, specifically referencing a Washington Post story about Bernie Sanders and alleged Russian interference.
• ⚡ The GEC's methods involved using tools like Brandwatch to monitor accounts, including those baselessly asserted as inauthentic, and mixing real Russian accounts with American, often anti-establishment, accounts.

The 'Censorship Industrial Complex'

• 🎭 The GEC employed a tactic of identifying a few accounts with real ties to foreign adversaries and then listing American or European citizens with