Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO), warned that federal contracts with large advertising agencies significantly threaten free speech and independent media in the United States.
In a Thursday interview on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Benz expressed grave concerns about the federal government's financial relationships with major advertising agencies that are using left-wing media monitoring groups to target conservative media.
Benz specifically pointed to the activities of NewsGuard and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), which are backed by major global ad agencies.
Benz described NewsGuard as an "existential threat to everything this country represents."
NewsGuard was founded by Steven Brill, a left-wing advocate and longtime Democratic donor.
Benz highlighted NewsGuard's advisory board, which includes influential figures such as General Michael Hayden, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former head of NATO.
Benz drew parallels between NewsGuard's actions and "Operation Mockingbird," a CIA initiative from the 1950s to the 1970s aimed at influencing media content.
Benz cited the COVID-19 pandemic as an instance where NewsGuard intervened to support the Department of Health and Human Services and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
According to Benz, NewsGuard "created a blacklist of 650 news sites, who it economically tortured some of them to death through these coordinated blacklists."
NewsGuard and GARM share their ratings of news outlets to limit or stop advertising revenues from flowing to conservative media deemed as a "high risk."
The same ratings groups typically rank liberal and far left media as "low risk," keeping the ad revenue spigot open.
"Newsguard works with GARM, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, whose goal ... is to deprive all alternative news ecosystems that spread misinformation from the $2.6 billion in programmatic ad spend every year," Benz stated.
He noted that this censorship effort is concentrated within a small number of large ad agencies, such as Publicis Groupe, which works closely with NewsGuard. Publicis is an investor in NewsGuard, a for-profit company.
According to Benz, the Foundation for Freedom Online recently compiled a report detailing federal contracts where billions of dollars were awarded to these ad agencies.
"The Pentagon is paying these ad agencies, HHS is paying these ad agencies," Benz emphasized, questioning why American taxpayers should fund entities that he claims are engaged in discriminatory practices.
"A lot of people think of these big private ad agencies that determine advertising flow through online are private entities, but as we document some of these get billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies," he added.
Benz called on Congress to take action, suggesting that members of the House Appropriations Committee should intervene to "strip" these ad agencies of federal contracts.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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