US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere

380 points by c420 2 days ago

I just chaired a session at the FOCI conference earlier today, where people were talking about Internet censorship circumvention technologies and how to prevent governments from blocking them. I'd like to remind everyone that the U.S. government has been one the largest funders of that research for decades. Some of it is under USAGM (formerly BBG, the parent of RFE/RL)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_Globa...

and some of it has been under the State Department, partly pursuant to the global Internet freedom program introduced by Hillary Clinton in 2010 when she was Secretary of State.

I'm sure the political and diplomatic valence is very different here, but the concept of "the U.S. government paying to stop foreign governments from censoring the Internet" is a longstanding one.

pasc1878 - 6 hours ago

But part of Agency has just been defunded
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/19/us-funding-for...
- Sharlin - 3 hours ago
  
  [flagged]
  - reliabilityguy - an hour ago
    
    > very explicitly stated goals of sowing discord within the US's former "allies", to weaken Europe, and to promote racist and fringe-right views.
    The US government explicitly said that they seek to promote racist and fringe-right views? Do you have any sort of evidence to back it up?
    
    Sharlin - an hour ago
    
    Sure, if that’s your problem with my comment, feel free to rephrase it in your mind to something like "to promote fringe-right and anti-immigration parties and movements that any sane observer recognizes as authoritarian and racist because they’re not even bothering to dogwhistle". If you need a source for that you haven’t been following the news.
    
    reliabilityguy - 29 minutes ago
    
    > not even bothering to dogwhistle
    So, basically, you are saying that they are openly racist?
    Is there any evidence of this?
    > If you need a source for that you haven’t been following the news.
    Nice deflection. You are the one making outlandish claims, so the proof is on you and not the “news” that someone is supposed to follow.
    
    vel0city - 12 minutes ago
    
    Trump's Truth Social feed? The Vice President spreading racist lies about Hatians eating neighbor's pets on national television?
  - thevillagechief - an hour ago
    
    This is fine. If successful, the next administration can just leverage it for a different kind of agenda. In fact, by the time we know whether it's successful, this admin will likely be gone. I'm a bit conflicted though. I hated the last admin's censorship efforts for wrong think. Now, looking at the online discourse landscape, I'm starting to think we might have thrown out the baby with the birth water. Why can't we just be normal!
    
    Sharlin - an hour ago
    
    Let me guess, you’re American?
- RobotToaster - 2 hours ago
  
  This new "portal" will most likely only allow de facto government controlled sites like X.
  - arethuza - 34 minutes ago
    
    "government controlled sites like X" - I thought the control was the other way around?
Waterluvian - 16 hours ago

It’s a clear way to project soft power: make sure your message and culture can get through.
- Mikhail_Edoshin - 10 hours ago
  
  And lies.
  - b112 - 7 hours ago
    
    And truth.
    
    bayindirh - 3 hours ago
    
    > > And lies.
    > And truth.
    In short, propaganda.
    Propaganda (noun): Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented. Propaganda can be found in a wide variety of different contexts.[0]
    [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
    
    weregiraffe - an hour ago
    
    This definition is so broad it basically encompasses all communication.
    
    calgoo - 34 minutes ago
    
    I mean, in a way, all communication is propaganda. Its one person or group trying to influence you with their information.
    
    bayindirh - a few seconds ago
    
    I don't think so. I strive to lay the facts out neutrally so people can decide what to do with that information, even if the outcome is not ideal for me.
    Preventing non-ideal outcomes is not about lying, but not doing things you might regret in the future.
    This is why I'm no politician, though.
    
    lostmsu - an hour ago
    
    And regular people talking their mind
    
    ekjhgkejhgk - 5 hours ago
    
    You don't have to worry about projecting truth. The truth gets through. This is about projecting lies.
    
    ben_w - 4 hours ago
    
    > The truth gets through.
    It often doesn't at all, drowned amongst lies.
    And sometimes it takes a lifetime or two.
    It took Boris Yeltsin, who had just become the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, actually visiting a random grocery store in Houston before he realised what the truth was:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_visit_by_Boris_Yeltsin_to...
    
    snowpid - 3 hours ago
    
    most common people were aware of the cliff in economy between capitalist and communist states. Hence we had so many revolution and communism lost.
    This was a communist apparatchik. Its like showing truth to MAGA people. Most wont accept it.
    
    ben_w - an hour ago
    
    > Its like showing truth to MAGA people. Most wont accept it.
    Could be. That was the other example I was considering using besides Yeltsin, but I figured it would immediately get met with "no u" responses from those who, as you say, won't accept it. That makes for boring conversations where I learn nothing.
    
    snowpid - an hour ago
    
    see it this way. Yelzin's reaction was very surprising. You can see how other communist burocrats reacted to facts.
    Even in democratic societies politicians don't change their beliefs so fast (maybe most human?). But luckily we can vote them out so this is not a big problem.
    
    lII1lIlI11ll - an hour ago
    
    > You don't have to worry about projecting truth. The truth gets through. This is about projecting lies.
    I wouldn't be so sure. Significant part of Russian population believes that they are purging Ukraine of evil nazis, for example. Or that WW2 started on 22 June 1941.
    
    kalterdev - 3 hours ago
    
    In other words, a free system is inevitably ruled by hypocrites, while in dictatorships they are rejected that opportunity. This is another variant of “in democracy, people cannot rule because they’re stupid.”
    Statists, failing to admit their guilt, blame everyone but themselves.
    And no, the truth does not get through, even after centuries.
    
    jwarden - 2 hours ago
    
    What if the truth is that something is a lie?
    Promoting truth and opposing lies are the same thing.
    
    backscratches - 4 hours ago
    
    Truth does not get through.
    
    lucasRW - 4 hours ago
    
    "The truth gets through."
    Yeah I agree, we shouldn't be too concerned about Iran, Russia, or China, censoring the internet, the truth gets through.
    
    MASNeo - 7 hours ago
    
    Worse, half-truths and half-lies.
    
    GoblinSlayer - 4 hours ago
    
    That's why diversity of sources is the only way to escape censorship: you get one half truth from one source, another half truth from another source, then two halves make whole truth.
    
    ben_w - 4 hours ago
    
    That's also trivial to manipulate; control the narrative, and you control the Overton window. People picking the middle of two fake options are still under the influence of whoever chose those options — just ask any stage magician.
    
    GoblinSlayer - 4 hours ago
    
    Narrative is controlled by censorship.
    
    intended - 3 hours ago
    
    This was the old world. In our world narrative control is not by restrictions, but by abundance. Flood the zone writ large.