Through rebranding. Recently, we reported that the Global Engagement Center had been shut down for lack of further U.S. Congressional funding. And that is indeed what its website says.

But not so fast, perhaps. Roger Kimball warns that the hydra of would-be internet censorship has many heads and is said to be regrouping. Here is how it worked in the past:

Thanks in part to reporting by people like Matt Taibbi, we know that much of our government has been weaponized against the American people, at least against those of whom the regime disapproves. On issues ranging from COVID to Hunter Biden’s laptop, Taibbi has shown that “every corner of government”—“the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, . . . even the CIA”—has leaned on virtually all social and traditional media companies to toe the approved government line. The GEC has played a small but not insignificant role in this clandestine effort to monitor opinion and suppress entities and individuals emitting “Wrongthink” (what George Orwell called “Crimethink”).

Item: Because the GEC could not operate against Americans directly, it did so indirectly by funding entities like the British-based Global Disinformation Index, which compiled a list of publications and individuals that said things the regime did not like. That list was consulted by advertisers wary of winding up on the wrong side of the government. The Washington Examiner made the list. So did RealClearPolitics, Reason, The New York Post, Blaze Media, the Daily Wire, the Federalist, the American Conservative, Newsmax, and many conservative entities. Result? Millions of dollars of ad revenue dried up, imperiling the future of those outlets.

“The Hydra of Government: How the Global Engagement Center Lives On Through Rebranding,” American Greatness, January 5, 2025

Here is how a new, similar operation may be emerging now:

Allow me to introduce you to the “Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub,” a polysyllabic, “rebranded” version of the GEC. Many of the people employed by the GEC are now employed by the new “hub.” They’ll need new business cards, stationery, and signs for their offices. Doubtless, there will be other expenses. But since much of the GEC’s budget has been “realigned” to the new shop, that won’t be a problem. Lives On Through Rebranding”

The censors believe in what they are doing and will likely find a way to continue at the expense of the taxpayers they censor. But yes, they will likely use different parts of the alphabet.

You may also wish to read: US government news censorship group is defunded, shuts down Changes in administrations are often a means of getting rid of such rogue agencies.