How The Government Used 'Track F' To Fund Censorship Tools: Report

 "In the name of combatting alleged misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the 2020 election, NSF has been issuing multimillion-dollar grants to university and nonprofit research teams," states the report by the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

Track F Program Funding The $39 million Track F Program is the heart of the congressional report's analysis of a systematic federal effort to replace human "Disinformation" monitors with AI-driven digital systems that are capable of vastly more comprehensive monitoring and censoring.

The NSF's Track F managers kept a tight hold on how recipients of funding under the program dealt with media requests for information, characterized reporting in conservative media as "Misinformation," and required grant recipients to submit press releases and related documents to the government prior to release.

At one point in February 2023, one of the Track F managers emailed program participants, telling them "NSF is not responding to requests from people who are interested in attacking our programs or your projects; it's probably best if you also ignore it." Evading Oversight In addition to ignoring requests from media outlets deemed by NSF officials as only interested in "Attacking" their programs, the congressional report described extensive efforts by agency managers to evade congressional oversight.

"To date, NSF has produced a mere 294 pages to the committee in response to requests for documents and information relating to its Track F program, maintaining an iron grip on much of the substantially relevant information," the report detailed.

"Time and again, NSF engaged in efforts to hide its Track F censorship program from the American people, training the research teams on how to avoid media scrutiny and refusing to respond substantively to congressional requests itself."

Expanding Censorship A host of critics on and off Capitol Hill contend the NSF Track F funding program is just one piece of the continually expanding so-called censorship-industrial complex. 

https://www2.theepochtimes.com/article/how-the-government-used-track-f-to-fund-censorship-tools-report-5594817