FIRST ON FOX – Free Press, a media group financed by liberal billionaire George Soros, "is looking to incorporate global pressure to push Big Tech platforms to juice their censorship operations before the 2024 U.S. presidential election," according to the Media Research Center.
Free Press bills itself as an organization that "closely watches as the decisions shaping the media landscape are made and sounds the alarm when people’s rights to connect and communicate are in danger." However, in a new report, the conservative MRC found that Soros gave over $80 million to affiliated groups calling for "censorship" ahead of November’s critical election.
"One of the wealthiest men in the world is using his vast wealth and power to silence regular Americans ahead of the 2024 election. At a time when defending free speech is key, leftists are trying their best to shut down the voices of half of America, especially those who disagree with the radical agenda promoted by Biden, Soros and most Big Tech executives," MRC Free Speech America vice president Dan Schneider told Fox News Digital.
MRC associate editor Joseph Vazquez reported the Soros-funded media group "is at the helm of a new push to restrict free speech online," pointing to a recent press release as evidence.
Last month, Free Press boasted about a letter urging executives at Discord, Google, Instagram, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, Rumble, Snap, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube to keep online platforms "safe and healthy" in 2024 through six specific "interventions."
The letter was signed by "200 civil-society organizations, researchers and journalists," according to Free Press. The MRC found that "at least 45 of the signatories have had their coffers packed with Soros cash to the tune of a whopping $80,757,329 between 2016 and 2022 alone."
"The document attempted to justify that it was written with reducing ‘real-world harms’ and ‘the rise of extremism and violent attempts to overthrow democratic governments’ in mind. However, it appears its true design is to pressure Big Tech companies to silence speech the left despises as 60 countries across the globe gear up for their elections in 2024," Vazquez wrote.
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"But even more disturbing was the letter’s implication that its primary target is interfering in the 2024 U.S. election," Vazquez continued. "This development is directly in line with Soros’ brand, who has dedicated millions of his ungodly fortune to groups looking to interfere in elections by stifling online speech."
The letter asked tech companies to reinstate "election-integrity policies," "swiftly enforce rules against election lies and hate in political advertising," "require disclosure of AI-generated political content," "place greater friction to reduce the visibility and easy distribution of election-related content that has been flagged and is awaiting review," "hold influencer, public figure and political candidate accounts to the same moderation and enforcement standards as everyone else," and "improve transparency and enable civil-society oversight of enforcement practices by regularly sharing virality and enforcement reports."
Vazquez wrote that the "explicit push for speech controls is especially disturbing in light of the stated vision of one of Free Press’s founders," noting that Free Press co-founder Robert W. McChesney once wrote in 2000, "Our job is to make media reform part of our broader struggle for democracy, social justice, and, dare we say it, socialism."
The MRC then dove into who signed the letter and how they receive financial support.
"The signatory that received the most Soros funding in MRC’s tally was none other than the climate change-obsessed Global Witness, which is already on record pressuring Facebook and TikTok to increase censorship operations before the 2022 midterm elections," Vazquez wrote.
"The Soros empire funded the group with a massive $20,338,270 between 2016 and 2022," he continued. "The group’s ‘digital threats’ campaign, for example, is specifically focused on pressuring governments to regulate speech on social media."
The MRC also found that the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, another signee, received over $3 million from Soros between 2017 and 2022.
"The leftist group was recently exposed in a House Judiciary Committee investigation for co-authoring a ‘hate groups’ blacklist with the Soros-funded Global Disinformation Index (GDI) targeting ‘conservative’ and faith-based organizations. This list was later disseminated by law enforcement to several financial institutions," Vazquez wrote.
"The fact that Free Press is at the tip of this Soros-tied spear should concern every American," he continued. "Free Press’s obsession with censorship and gaining control of the Internet cannot be overstated."
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The MRC noted that Free Press previously "celebrated how it was also responsible for influencing the Obama-era FCC into adopting draconian ‘Net Neutrality’ rules that arbitrarily sanctioned massive government regulation of the Internet," and "praised how the FCC reportedly cited the Soros-funded organization ‘close to 70 times’ in its final order on the matter."
"Americans beware. The Soros network is coming after your free speech just in time for the U.S. elections — again," Vazquez wrote.
Free Press did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Global Witness also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
