Prohibit intelligence agencies from monitoring domestic disinformation
What the document says“The IC should be prohibited from monitoring so-called domestic disinformation.”
The chapter argues that such activity can slip into suppressing an opposition party's speech, is corrosive of First Amendment protections, and raises questions about impartiality when the agencies choose not to act. It names no instrument for the prohibition.
What the document actually says“The IC should be prohibited from monitoring so-called domestic disinformation.”
These agencies should not be allowed to watch false claims made at home.
Some agencies track false claims spread online. The book says they should not watch ones made inside the country. It says that could silence people.
Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship
2025-01-20 · 90 FR 8243
The order bars every federal department, agency, officer, employee and agent from acting or using federal resources in a way that would unconstitutionally abridge the speech of American citizens, in terms that name the government's work against misinformation, disinformation and malinformation, and it directs the Attorney General to investigate such activity over the previous four years. Being government-wide, it reaches the intelligence agencies. The fit breaks down in that it prohibits conduct that abridges speech rather than monitoring as such, so watching domestic speech without acting on it is not addressed. The order names no intelligence agency and creates no rule specific to the intelligence community, which is where the chapter asks the prohibition to sit.
The order bars federal staff from acts that cut off free speech, and it names work against false news. It covers the whole government, so spy agencies fall under it. But it bars acts, not watching. Watching speech at home is left alone, and no spy agency is named.