In his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Mike Benz, a former U.S. Department of State official and the current Executive Director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, delved into what he refers to as the "Censorship Industrial Complex." This complex, according to Benz, involves a network of government agencies, NGOs, universities, and tech companies working together to control and censor information, particularly online.
1. Government and Tech Collaboration: Benz described how the U.S. government has increasingly leaned on tech companies like Google and Twitter to censor content deemed as misinformation or disinformation. He traced the origins of this collaboration back to when tech companies were part of national security strategies, especially post-2016 election combined with the Russian Collusion hoax. to "combat foreign interference", which has since morphed into broader domestic censorship efforts.
