Congress is finally taking the dystopian website traffic cop NewsGuard to task for its years-long vendetta against right-leaning media.
On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into NewsGuard over its assault on free speech and its taxpayer-funded contracts with the federal government.
In a letter to NewsGuard CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) requested the submission of documents related to the firm’s ties to the federal government as a potential “non-transparent agent of censorship campaigns.”
This congressional probe follows a lawsuit filed by The Daily Wire and The Federalist — in conjunction with the State of Texas — against the federal government for awarding nearly $750,000 of taxpayer money to NewsGuard in exchange for licensing its data.Comer stated that the investigation will also examine NewsGuard’s abysmally poor adherence to its own policies designed to “ guard against appearances of bias” and “how it tries to avoid and manage potential conflicts of interest arising from its investors and other influences.” Moreover, per Comer:
“One concerned journalist expressed fear that NewsGuard’s activities are an extension of federal efforts—since struck down by courts—to coerce social media companies and to ‘destroy the financial survival of disfavored outlets…”
The congressional investigation will also scrutinize NewsGuard’s “actions that may have the impact of delegitimizing factually accurate information,” Comer added.
Comer’s six-page letter noted that several NewsGuard employees have engaged in political activities, potentially violating the firm’s policies against such behavior.
The evidence presented by Comer was striking.
On Twitter, NewsGuard Senior Advisor Richard Sambrook reportedly reposted social media content accusing the British Conservative Party of somehow worsening poverty rates in the U.K.
Contributing Analyst Melissa Fares also reportedly shared a New York Times front-page image displaying a large “GUILTY” sign after a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records.
Comer concluded that “the Committee seeks to make an independent determination about whether NewsGuard’s intervention on protected speech has been in any way sponsored by a federal, state, local, or foreign government.”
MRC Free Speech America has repeatedly exposed NewsGuard’s inherent bias against right-leaning outlets critical of the Biden administration and who don’t comport with leftist narratives. According to the latest MRC study, NewsGuard awarded left-leaning sites an average rating of 91 out of 100 on a 0-100 scale, while right-leaning outlets received a ridiculous, negative average rating of only 65 out of 100.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.