Anonprofit that received federal funding to develop censorship strategies boasted in progress reports to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) that early tactics had suppressed the reach of Donald Trump's messaging and reduced advertising by $100 million to news outlets it deemed to be "disinformation" spreaders, according to newly disclosed memos.
The Global Disinformation Index (GDI) was awarded grants through its U.S.-based affiliate, AN Foundation, from NED, a congressionally chartered and taxpayer-funded agency in Washington. The grants were paid to develop strategies on how to fight perceived disinformation in foreign countries.
But GDI's quarterly progress reports often explicitly boasted about the impact of censorship efforts on American targets and audiences.
For instance, it touted to the NED that it had created a report called "Bankrolling Bigotry: An Overview of the Online Funding Strategies of American Hate Groups" that relied heavily on research from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center to warn that "hatred is surging across the United States, threatening the safety, security and wellbeing of minority communities."
