Government-backed 'disinformation' group under fire for punishing outlets that reported on lab leak theory
The Energy Department concluded that COVID-19 likely originated in a lab
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A government-affiliated group that attempted to blacklist conservative networks over "coronavirus conspiracies" is now coming under fire after a federal agency announced its analysis that the lab-leak theory could be true.
The Global Disinformation Index reportedly sought to convince advertising companies to distance themselves from and punish conservative websites that suggested the coronavirus may have initially spread because it was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.
Earlier this week, the Energy Department concluded based on new intelligence that the virus most likely did originate in a lab.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Following the report, the British group came under fire for targeting conservative groups who they claimed for months were spreading "disinformation" by reporting on the lab leak hypothesis of COVID-19.
The Energy Department concluded that COVID-19 likely originated in a lab (Feature China/Future Publishing)
"GDI is part of [a] disturbing constellation of pop-up censorship organizations that all descended on stifling COVID origins discourse online simultaneously," Mike Benz, a former State Department official told the Washington Examiner.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The British nonprofit reportedly received $665,000 from the Global Engagement Center and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) between 2020 and 2021, while they were attempting to censor conservative media for COVID-19 claims.
NED, a State Department-backed group that formerly funded GDI, severed its ties with the nonprofit upon reports of a "dynamic exclusion list."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GDI called out agencies, such as Google, for promoting websites that published claims coronavirus was leaked from a lab in China and "providing ad revenue streams to known disinformation sites peddling coronavirus conspiracies."
GDI singled out Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in a report for claiming that COVID may have originated in China. "By broadcasting the Senator’s words to a national audience, this debunked conspiracy theory is given authority, validation and amplification," the nonprofit wrote.
In a 2020 report, GDI wrote that "all these lab conspiracy theories have been fact-checked and proven untrue," but nearly three years later the Energy Department's new findings say otherwise.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The P4 lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. (Feature China/Barcroft Media)
During the peak of the pandemic, left-leaning media claimed that former President Donald Trump was "xenophobic" for calling COVID-19 a "foreign virus" and claiming it originated in China.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Big Tech censored information indicating COVID resulted from a lab leak," Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee Chairwoman, tweeted. "Now, Biden’s own Energy Department is saying that’s the most likely cause. We need accountability – for both the Chinese Communist Party and Big Tech."