This is part five of a Washington Examiner series about self-styled “disinformation” monitors that are cracking down on conservative media and taking steps to defund disfavored speech. Here is where you can read those stories.
EXCLUSIVE — Microsoft is suspending its subscription to a disinformation tracking group’s secret blacklist of conservative media outlets and launching an internal review following multiple Washington Examiner reports.
The Microsoft-owned Xandr, an advertising company, has abided by a blacklist of conservative websites secretly compiled by the Global Disinformation Index, an organization that intends to “defund” and shut down disfavored speech. In the wake of the Washington Examiner‘s reporting, Microsoft has launched a review of its relationship with GDI and has suspended usage of the group’s services.
DISINFORMATION INC: READ ONE OF THE ‘BLACKLISTS’ USED SECRETLY TO DEFUND CONSERVATIVE NEWS
“We try to take a principled approach to accuracy and fighting foreign propaganda,” a spokesperson said on Saturday evening. “We’re working quickly to fix the issue and Xandr has stopped using GDI’s services while we are doing a larger review.”
Xandr subscribed prior to GDI’s exclusion list, which is said to include at least 2,000 websites, according to public documents. Microsoft’s backpedaling comes after the Washington Examiner revealed on Friday how Xandr has blocked conservative websites from receiving key ad dollars and labeled them as “false/misleading,” “hate speech,” or “reprehensible/offensive.”
That revelation was due to whistleblowers in the ad industry coming forward and internal Xandr data being leaked to the Washington Examiner. The data showed that some websites flagged by Xandr as “false/misleading” were the Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, Newsmax, Breitbart, the Blaze, the Washington Times, and Judicial Watch.
In September 2022, Xandr informed publishers that it would begin to adopt GDI’s blacklist, emails show. The Washington Examiner learned it is on the list. GDI has said the 10 “riskiest” outlets and biggest “disinformation” peddlers are the American Spectator, Newsmax, the Federalist, the American Conservative, One America News Network, the Blaze, the Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, Reason, and the New York Post.
“In this case, Xandr prevented us from talking to our voters in the critical days leading up to Election Day,” an ad industry executive previously told the Washington Examiner. “Our audience reads the Examiner, Daily Wire, Townhall, etc. Voters go to these news & opinion sites [to] inform their decisions. And if Microsoft is using their technology to block us from showing ads on these websites, they’re actively preventing us from talking to voters on the public squares where their decisions are being informed.”
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GDI, which has never responded to a Washington Examiner request for comment, has continued to come under fire. On Saturday, several watchdog groups raised concerns over the State Department funding GDI. First Amendment lawyers have questioned the legality of this relationship and some members of Congress, like Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), have indicated they intend to investigate the grants.
“House Republicans will be hauling these bad actors before Congress, and I absolutely support legislation to ban federal funding of anti-free speech groups,” said Banks on Thursday.
