The Misinformation Disinformation Campaign

By Patrick Colbeck

Misinformation. Misinformation is information that is false, but not necessarily intentionally
false. Misinformation is at times used as an umbrella category for false rumors,
disinformation, and other types of false and misleading information.

Disinformation. Disinformation is false or misleading information that is purposefully seeded
and/or spread for an objective—e.g., a political or financial objective.2 Disinformation
may mislead through its content, or may work by deceiving its audiences
about its origins, purpose, or the identity of those who produced it. It is often
built around a true or plausible core, layering factual information with small
falsehoods or exaggerations (see Bittman, 1985).3 It also typically functions as a
campaign—a set of information actions, rather than a single piece of content.
The key difference between disinformation and other forms of misinformation
is intent, in that disinformation is intentionally produced and/or spread. Often
as a disinformation campaign progresses, it incorporates unwitting participants
in its production and spread; therefore, not every entity that spreads disinformation
does so with intent to deceive or knowledge that they are spreading
false or misleading content.

The Long Fuse: Misinformation and the 2020 Election

America is in the middle of an information war.

We are in a battle for what is true and for what is not true.

We are in a battle over who is allowed to share information and who is not allowed to share information.

Clearly this battle is nothing new. Back in 1791, Americans ratified the First Amendment to the United States Constitution making it very clear that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech”.

What is new is the weaponry being used.

Information Warfare Armory

Over the past few decades, we have slowly drifted into lives of convenience enabled by information technology. Google Maps has replaced the ceremonial folding and unfolding of paper maps by automobile co-pilots with their eyes peering for the next road sign or nearest gas station to ask for directions. Social media links to online news sources have replaced newspapers tossed onto the porch by a newspaper boy on a bike. Wallets filled with dollar bills have been replaced by smartphones with Apple pay.

These advancements in technology have truly made many aspects of life much easier….but what have we given up in return for these advancements? In a word…Freedom.

What started out as a benevolent convenience has now turned into a dependence. This dependence has opened the door to control by those wielding the technology. As more and more control is exerted over those dependent upon the technology, these people will have less and less freedom.

Who is taking advantage of this new paradigm?

Information Warfare Alliances

There are numerous examples of bad actors instigating an information war in America targeting American citizens. There are equally numerous examples of policy areas being targeted in this information war. For the purpose of this discussion, I would like to focus upon election integrity.

Mind you, this information war on freedom impacts much more than election outcomes. It is also waged to shape public opinion on healthcare, education, the environment and current events in general.

Elections, however, are arguably most consequential as elected officials wield the authority necessary to convert policy views into law and law enforcement. Any group of people that controls the outcomes of our elections also controls the outcomes in these other policy areas as well.

A prime example of an organization instigating an information war on the topic of elections is the so-called Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). In their report entitled “The Long Fuse: Misinformation and the 2020 Election”, the EIP provides significant insights into exactly how this war on freedom in America is actually being waged.

Their report on the 2020 election also clearly highlights who is behind this war on freedom.

While the specific actors may change from topic to topic, the basic stakeholders involved are Big Government, Big Business (aka the funding behind “Civil Society” organizations), Big Tech, and Big Media.

The Election Integrity Partnership is not the only alliance of organizations that controls key election information. Another example is the so-called Trusted News Initiative. This initiative is sponsored by the government-run BBC and includes organizations such as Google, YouTube, Twitter, Reuters, Meta, and The Washington Post. The BBC involvement highlights the fact that Big Government is about much more than the size of the federal government. Big Government has substantive ties to those seeking to subvert national identity and advocate for one world government.

There are quite a few partnerships attempting to influence public opinion regarding elections, but I would like to highlight one additional organization that potentially goes significantly beyond “influencing” election results. They actually report the election results. This partnership between Big Tech, Big Business, Big Government and Big Media is known as the National Election Pool.

Publicly available information indicates that the National Election Pool (NEP) is a consortium of American news organizations. The pool was ostensibly created in 2003 to “[pool] together resources to gather vote and exit poll data.” The NEP reports the election results many of us wait to see on our preferred news channel in the wee hours of the morning after election day. There is a significant amount of mystery surrounding how exactly these election results are obtained…especially when anyone asserting that electronic voting systems are connected to the internet is labeled by the self-appointed misinformation brigade as “conspiracy theorists”.

We do have evidence to suggest that the National Election Pool contracts with Edison Research to perform “exit polling” and “vote tabulations”. These vote tabulations are likely performed in conjunction with other election night reporting service vendors such as the Spanish company SCYTL, but this has not yet been able to be confirmed. The National Election Pool reportedly uses the Associated Press for official returns, but it is unclear how the AP obtains these all-important “official” returns as all of these organizations including the electronic voting system vendors tabulating the votes are not subject to FOIA requests. The “official” narrative is that they use a network of local reports with trusted relationships with clerks and “other local officials” to “collect the votes”. The likely source of these vote tallies is that the AP is tapped into the “unofficial election results” transmitted via the internet on election night. The bottom line is that there is a significant gap in trustworthy information about our election night reporting services. This gap is yet one more facet of the information war that puts American citizens at risk of losing their freedom.

Suffice it to say that there are many examples of partnerships between Big Tech, Big Media, Big Business and Big Government that engage in information warfare against America.

Information Warfare Tactics

If we are to secure our freedom, we need to have a better understanding of how the instigators behind this information war operate. In this light, let’s review some of their more obvious information warfare tactics.

Control the Language

In George Orwell’s 1984, he created a fictitious language called “newspeak“. Evidence of “newspeak” in America is difficult to not see. One can start with social media handles in which names are supplemented by their “preferred pronouns”. When it comes to elections specifically, a variety of terms are being redefined to fit the narrative of those seeking to subvert the integrity of elections.

Of course, in order to ensure that these revised definitions drive the mainstream of thought on such matters, we need the modern equivalent of the Webster’s Dictionary to serve as the de facto authority on definitions. Leave it to the man who said “We have put together I think the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics” to cover this base for those behind the war on freedom.

The Disinformation Governance Board has since been disbanded, but it is likely now simply hidden “behind the curtain” deep within one or more expansive federal agencies.

Fund Political Campaigns Without Funding Political Campaigns

Money is the mother’s milk of politics.

Jesse Unruh, Speaker of California Assembly 1961-1968

Candidates for office use financial resources to influence public opinion in their favor much like businesses use advertising to influence consumers to buy their products. The more funding a given political campaign has, the more likely it is to be victorious. Due to campaign finance “reforms”, the funds received by a given political campaign by individuals or organizations are capped. One of the ways around these caps for those seeking to impact election outcomes is to find organizations besides political campaigns to support. There are no such caps on their contributions to non-political organizations even if these “non-political” organizations engage in activities to influence public opinion on political policies. The organizations behind the Election Integrity Partnership are examples of “non-political” organizations engaged in political influence operations.

As a means of illustrating this point, let’s look at the funding sources behind the organizations driving the Election Integrity Partnership: Digital Forensic Lab, Graphika, Stanford Internet Observatory, and the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public.

Digital Forensic Lab (DFRLab)

DFRLab is operated by the Atlantic Council. It’s ostensible mission is to operationalize “the study of disinformation by exposing falsehoods and fake news.”

The Atlantic Council has long been a nest for globalists in pursuit of one world government. It would make sense for them to engage in activities that would destabilize strong nationalist sentiment in the United States. Their donor base has a history of dedication to this mission.

The Atlantic Council is a prime example of how Big Business operates. They influence public policy via proxies under the guise of “charitable funding”. It’s a winning formula for them. They achieve their policy objectives while getting a tax write off that frees up more funding to achieve their policy objectives.

Graphika

Graphika is a “network analysis firm that specializes in social media and online networks“. It is funded by the Democracy Fund seeded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. During the Obama Administration in 2012, Omidyar contributed $250 million to oust Ukrainian President who refused to pursue membership in the EU. This demonstrates that he has no problem using his financial resources to “tinker” in elections.

Stanford Internet Observatory.

The Stanford Internet Observatory resides in the heart of Silicon Valley flush with Big Tech investment capital. The Observatory was founded with a $5 million donation from Craigslist creator Craig Newmark. Big Tech is not the only source of funding. Big government is another source of funding. The National Science Foundation awarded a $3 million grant to the observatory to combat online disinformation.

University of Washington Center for an Informed Public

The University of Washington Center for an Informed Public was formed to “translate research about misinformation and disinformation into policy, technology design, curriculum development, and public engagement.” Like Stanford University, the University of Washington benefits from access to significant Big Tech investment capital in the Seattle, Washington area.

The Center for an Informed Public has received $5 million from the Knight Foundation, $1 million from Craig Newmark, and $2.25 million from the National Science Foundation. Yet another example of Big Tech and Big Government partnering to subvert free speech.

Become Data Gatekeepers

One of the best ways to control “misinformation/disinformation” is to plant yourself at the center of the flow of all information. In other words, one needs to become an information gatekeeper. It turns out that significant funding provides legitimacy to organizations that can open up doors to serving as internet traffic “gatekeepers”.

Former Facebook Cybersecurity Officer, Alex Stamos, is one of the drivers behind the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). He provides a tangible connection to the vast resources of Big Tech and he knows how to use these resources to influence elections. In his role as “visiting professor” at Stanford, he has been seeking access to user data across all social media platforms as a means of battling “misinformation”. In other words, he is seeking the keys to the internet information gateways.

Stamos says the observatory is currently negotiating with tech firms—he names Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit as examples—that it hopes will offer access to user data via API in real time and in historical archives. The observatory will then share that access with social scientists who might have a specific research project but lack the connections or resources to grapple with the immensity of the data involved. Stamos hopes that his data clearinghouse might lower the technical barriers that social scientists face when they try to study users on the internet at scale.

https://www.wired.com/story/alex-stamos-internet-observatory/#:~:text=Founded%20with%20a%20%245%20million,importantly%2C%20access%20to%20major%20tech

What could go wrong with the creation of a social media clearing house for user data?

The push to control the flow of information in society goes well beyond seeking the keys to these internet information gateways via the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP). The next logical step is to become the de facto gateway for all of this information. That’s where another organization called the Center for Internet Security steps in.

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) has deployed what they refer to as “Albert Sensors” to all 50 states.

These sensors enable CIS and their “partners” to serve as gatekeepers as to what data is allowed in and out of State Local Tribal and Territorial (SLTT) government jurisdictions all across America. Once deployed, the data passing through these “sensors” is routed to the EI-ISAC center outside of Albany, NY. The EI-ISAC is one of the command centers deployed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect critical infrastructure across America. The EI-ISAC is ostensibly focused upon security our election infrastructure. EI-ISAC is operated by CIS.

Obstruct Discovery

So, exactly how do organizations such as EIP, NEP or CIS secure our election? You are not allowed to know. Because they are private organizations, they are not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. They are not the only private organizations engaged in election activities. Here are some others that merit attention:

• Election Resource Information Center (ERIC)
• Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)
• Electronic voting system vendors (e.g. Dominion, ES&S, Hart Intercivic, Konnech, BlueCrest)
• Rock the Vote
• IT infrastructure vendors (e.g. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure)

When one engages in an information war such as this, it is very useful if no one is allowed to have any substantive information about how these organizations operate.

Manage “Incidents”

In contrast with other aspects of their information warfare mission, the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) is very open about how it leverages the centralized data infrastructure provided by the EI-ISAC to manage responses to “misinformation/disinformation”.

Ideological “snitches” who shadow influential public figures and media outlets willing to report the truth share their “incidents” with the central operations center.

These incidents are then evaluated in a 3-tier process that results in actions taken by EIP stakeholders that include outright censorship, social media de-platforming, counter-narratives via so-called “fact checkers” or other actions exhibited in today’s cancel culture. You have to hand it to them. They are well organized. Of course it helps to have millions of dollars from Big Business and Big Government to help provide the resources needed to get organized.

Proliferate Disinformation

Once all of the incidents have been cataloged and “fact checked”, the “newspeak” talking points are proliferated across all major news outlets.

Despite having seen montages like this time and time again, you might be surprised as to how difficult it was for me to find this video clip on the internet. In order to appreciate how successful those behind this information war have been in suppressing your access to factual information, I challenge you to use your favorite search engine to find a video montage of news outlets repeating the fallacy that “the 2020 election was the most secure election in American history.” We all know it was repeated ad nauseum. Many montages of this narrative were created, but a search of the internet would cause you to question this reality. That is an indicator of how much work lies ahead of those seeking to promote access to the truth.

Information Warfare Consequences

The consequences of this information war are many but the core objective of those instigating this war is what is referred to in their circles as “good trouble“. They seek to create chaos as a means of disrupting existing power structures such as our government, our economy, our churches, and our schools.

In order to achieve this objective, they are pursuing division between those who pursue objective truth and those easily swayed by propaganda.

United we stand. Divided we fall.

How to Defend Freedom

If you cherish freedom, you need to fight back against those who seek to take your freedom away. How can we fight back against those pushing this information war on freedom? Here’s just a few ideas to get the ball rolling. Please leave your ideas in the comments section.

Expose The Truth

The first step in defending our freedom is to let Americans know that that they are in the middle of an information war. This can be quite the challenge in light of the rampant censorship and cancel culture found in America today. Don’t be intimidated. We can all do our part in exposing the truth.

That is why I created LetsFixStuff.org. Once I create a post on my website, I then attempt to amplify that information via social media. To be sure, I have been censored, “fact-checked”, shadow-banned, threatened and attacked as a result, but it is a small price to pay to preserve our freedom. Others have paid a much steeper price on our behalf. If we truly cherish freedom, we must all brave the censorship gauntlet and do our best to expose the truth. We can all do something to help expose the truth.

If you have billions of dollars and a passion for free speech, you could expose the truth by buying one of the publicly held social media platforms like Elon Musk did when he purchased Twitter.

The release of the Twitter Files by Elon Musk was instrumental in providing legitimacy to concerns over the unconstitutional collusion between Big Government and Big Tech.

Go Around Them

Go beyond complaining about Big Tech and Big Media censorship. Go beyond redressing grievances with Big Government and Big Business. Go around them.

Create your own pro-freedom social media platforms. That’s what the founders of Truth Social and FrankSocial did.

Create our own financial platforms. That’s what the founders of givesendgo.com and wethepeopleprocessing.com did.

Create your own website. You can then provide your network with unfiltered information. That’s what I did at LetsFixStuff.org.

Don’t stop there. Go directly to the people. Go to events. Talk with your local retailers, waiters and grocers.

Act as if your freedom depends upon them being informed about the truth…because it does.

Become Less Dependent

Our Achilles heel when it comes to fighting back in this information war is our growing dependence upon technology to make our lives easier or more “secure”.

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Benjamin Franklin

This increasing dependence upon technology impacts many aspects of our lives as previously alluded to, but I would like to focus upon the conduct of our elections. Do we really need electronic voting systems provided by “trusted vendors” to count our votes? No. We are all capable of counting our votes by hand. We did so for centuries before the advent of computers. Many countries do so capably today.

If we eliminate electronic voting systems, we also eliminate the need to secure our elections from the risks introduced by these systems. That means we are able to eliminate centralized information management facilities such as the EI-ISAC or government agencies such as the Election Assistance Commission ostensibly overseeing the integrity of our voting systems.

Study Them

Join me and other “meddling kids” in pursuing investigations of how the instigators behind this information war truly operate. Encourage our elected officials to join you in this investigation.

For starters, we need to find out exactly how AP and Edison Research obtain their “fast and accurate vote count throughout the nation”. A solid understanding of this process would likely provide significant insights into the breadth and depth of the information war as it pertains to our elections.

This information can then be used in support of legal action against the instigators of this war so that we can finally hold them accountable for their sedition.

Conclusion

Misinformation and disinformation are indeed serious concerns. In America, the effectiveness of our constitutional republic depends upon well-informed citizens. If our citizens are deceived by misinformation or disinformation, they will make poor decisions at the ballot box that result in poor governance.

How exactly then should we protect our citizens from misinformation and disinformation?

There are some who would lead you to believe that we should place our trust in partnerships between Big Government, Big Tech, Big Business and Big Media. They would lead you to believe that they should be the purveyors of truth in our society. Anyone who disagrees with them should be labeled as a “conspiracy theorist” or worse. This approach may sound reasonable to many Americans.

What happens, however, when these “trusted” organizations are the ones behind an orchestrated disinformation campaign designed to create “good trouble” and undermine our society? What safeguards are in place to prevent such treason?

The same safeguards we have had since we were founded as a nation. These safeguards have been enshrined in our Constitution as the Bill of Rights. Foremost among this rights is the freedom of speech. Regardless of any “trusted” label they may apply to their lapel or website, any individual or organization that would seek to subvert this fundamental right exposes themselves as enemies to America.

We are in an information war.

Before we can ever hope to bring justice in courts of law to those instigating this information war, we need to win the war in the court of public opinion.

We need to win this information war.