The advantages misinformation has.

By Philip Bump

Mike Lindell does not have any evidence that the 2020 e******n was tainted by significant v***r f***d.

He’ll argue with this, vociferously, claiming that he has indisputable electronic data showing interference from foreign powers. But on every occasion when he’s feinted toward allowing independent experts to review his purported evidence, it’s a dud. It was a dud last summer at a conference he held in South Dakota. It was a dud once again this summer.

I’ve long wondered why, if Lindell has all this evidence, he doesn’t simply turn it over to law enforcement. If he has any proof, anything at all, why not just make it public or hand it to the police? Lindell seems to think his data is unalterable (which isn’t true, but regardless), so why not loop in the FBI?

Well, there’s one good reason for that, as demonstrated to Lindell while he sat at a fast-food drive-through on Tuesday: The FBI works slowly. While he was at a Hardee’s grabbing food, FBI agents surrounded Lindell’s car and served him with a subpoena, seizing his phone, according to Lindell. The MyPillow CEO, warned not to discuss the encounter, readily announced that it was related to an investigation into a Colorado e******ns clerk’s alleged tampering with v****g machines. An act that (allegedly) occurred in the spring of 2021.

All of the checks our culture has on misinformation work too slowly to be effective. Mark Twain’s well-worn adage,
“A lie can travel around the world and back again while the t***h is lacing up its boots" was born in an era where getting halfway around the world took a few days. Now everything is faster, burrows deeper, spreads more widely than Twain could have imagined. But our processes for containing or counteracting false information haven’t changed much. It’s fighting the c****av***s with l***hes. It has been a particularly bad summer for some of the worst purveyors of misinformation polluting American politics.

Lindell’s encounter with the FBI was only the most prominent. He’s also still scrambling to figure out how he might defend himself in a massive defamation lawsuit brought against him by D******n V****g Systems, a suit that seems destined to end badly for the pillow salesman. Meanwhile, misinformation enthusiast Alex Jones was slapped with a massive punitive settlement by a jury in Texas, a result of false claims he made about the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Also this week, a company called K*****h filed a defamation suit against the group True the V**e. True the V**e is the organization that purports to have uncovered evidence of a massive b****t-moving scheme in the 2020 e******n, the claim at the core of Dinesh D’Souza’s film “2000 Mules.” But True the V**e has never provided any actual evidence of their claim and the film offers no evidence of people dumping b****ts in multiple drop boxes. So, at its own summit this summer, True the V**e tried to turn the page on “2000 Mules” — evidence still unseen — pointing its supporters instead at purported nefariousness from K*****h.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/watch-the-moment-when-the-2-000-mules-folks-admit-their-supposed-evidence-is-nonsense/ar-AA10JFjw?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=de7dfdd30bcf47e5b3a8e839e0d06453

The lag between True the V**e’s claims about K*****h and the lawsuit was remarkably short — but, then, it is also unresolved. The suit could d**g on for months; it could be thrown out. Meanwhile, True the V**e has been peddling its unproven claims about those b****ts for months, earning the embrace of the political right (and a lot of cash) despite the lack of demonstrated evidence.

This, of course, is a central point. There is no need to gin up theories about malfeasance. Take your pick: that the government is deeply corrupt, that the e******n was s****n, that the left can’t be trusted. Each of those is accepted as fact by millions of Americans. So there’s a market for purported evidence to bolster those points. Wild assertions about “false f**g” shootings. Claims about Chinese hackers changing v**es. Complicated-sounding analyses of cellphone data. There’s lots of misinformation that never moves an inch because there’s no fuel for it. But these claims are exactly what some people want to hear, so they take off.

The people questioning the claims, meanwhile, have a smaller audience. The tools for holding false claims in check work more slowly. D******n sued Lindell in February 2021, but, thanks to his pillow money, he has been able to keep the fight going. The shooting at the center of the Jones lawsuit happened nearly a decade ago.

True the V**e has kept pushing forward in part because of the vagueness of its allegations. It claims nonprofit groups were involved in the b****t-moving scheme, but which ones? D’Souza appears to have named some of them in a book he is selling as an accompaniment to his movie, but, after arriving in bookstores, the publishers pulled the first draft. NPR got a copy; it seems that D’Souza named specific groups who, understandably, object vociferously to the allegations being made. In response, True the V**e walked away from the filmmaker. In a statement, a spokesperson claimed that the group had no knowledge of “any allegations of activities of any specific organizations made in the book.” So, for the book, we’re asked to believe, D’Souza started freelancing on the data. (A question sent to D’Souza about the organizations was not answered by the time of publication.)

It’s vitally important that Americans be able to speak freely, of course. That free speech allows for the spread of false ideas is a hiccup in an essential system. The challenge is that we have no effective countervailing mechanism. Those who point out that misinformation is false or unsupported have no audience with the people who want to believe it. Legal tools for preventing the spread of falsehoods necessarily include stopgaps that slow the process down. So, misinformation spreads.

Speaking over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed to misinformation as a specific danger. The department was focused (as it has been even before President Biden’s inauguration) on the threat of “domestic violent extremists,” people who, among other things, embrace “an ideology of h**e, anti-government sentiment, false narratives propagated on online platforms, even personal grievances.” The department has issued bulletins identifying the danger of “an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories.”

Lindell is not a terrorist, of course. He doesn’t even appear to have been the direct target of the FBI’s search, though who knows? But he is pumping misinformation into the public discussion, misinformation centered on the idea that the federal government is illegitimate and the 2020 e******n flawed. It’s precisely the same misinformation that prompted hundreds of people to attack police as they sought to overrun the Capitol on J*** 6, 2021.

And here, 20 months later, Lindell is still amplifying the same idea without any immediate repercussions besides scolding newspaper articles.

https://unicourt.com/case/pc-db5-missouri-et-al-v-biden-et-al-1192982

Missouri et al v. Biden et al
Case Summary
On May 5, 2022, the State of Missouri and the State of Louisiana (together, “Plaintiffs”), represented by Elizabeth B. Murrill of the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, filed a civil action against Joseph R. Biden, Jr.; Jennifer Rene Psaki; Vivek H. Murthy; Xavier Becerra; the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and Ors (collectively, “Defendants”), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, among other reliefs, for the Defendants’ alleged creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board” within the Department of Homeland Security which violates the fundamental right of free speech and free discourse for virtually all citizens in Missouri, Louisiana, and America, both on social media and elsewhere. This case was filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Louisiana with Judge Terry A. Doughty and Judge Kayla D. McClusky presiding.

In the complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that, “Defendants’ campaign of censorship has culminated in the recent announcement of the creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board '' within the Department of Homeland Security. “Our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need Oceania’s Ministry of T***h.” United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 728 (2012) (plurality op.). Likewise, our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need a “Disinformation Governance Board” within our federal domestic-security apparatus.”

The Plaintiffs further alleged that, “On information and belief, the immunity provided by Section 230 of the CDA directly contributed to the rise of a small number of extremely powerful social-media platforms, who have now turned into a “censorship cartel.” The liability provided by the federal government artificially subsidized, fostered, and encouraged the viewpoint and content-based censorship policies that those platforms have adopted at Defendants’ urging.”

The Plaintiffs also alleged that, “As a direct result of these actions, there has been an unprecedented rise of censorship and suppression of free speech—including core political speech—on social-media platforms. Not just fringe views, but perfectly legitimate, responsible viewpoints and speakers have been unlawfully and unconstitutionally silenced in the modern public square. These actions gravely threaten the fundamental right of free speech and free discourse for virtually all citizens in Missouri, Louisiana, and America, both on social media and elsewhere.”

The Plaintiffs then alleged that, “Thus, Defendants’ conduct alleged herein has created, with extraordinary efficacy, a situation where Americans seeking to exercise their core free-speech right to criticize the President of the United States are subject to aggressive prior restraint by private companies acting at the bidding of government officials. This situation is intolerable under the First Amendment.”

The Plaintiffs have laid down four claims for relief. The first claim alleged is for violation of the First Amendment, the second claim alleged is for an action in excess of statutory authority, the third claim alleged is against the HHS Defendants for the alleged violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the last claim alleged is against the DHS Defendants for the alleged violation of the Administrative Procedure Act


In their prayer for relief, the Plaintiffs requested that the Court declare that the Defendants’ conduct violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; declare that the Defendants’ conduct is ultra vires and exceeds their statutory authority; and also declare that the Defendants’ conduct violates the Administrative Procedure Act and is unlawful, and vacate and set aside such conduct and also grant injunctive relief against the Defendants from continuing to engage in the unlawful conduct alleged herein.

This case summary may not reflect the current position of the parties to this litigation or the status of this case. Sign up to view the latest case updates and court documents.

Original: CASE NO.3:22-CV-01213 STATE OF MISSOURI ET AL VERSUS JOSEPH R. BIDEN ET AL
Judge Terry A. Doughty
Mag. Judge Kayla D. McClusky

https://unicourt.com/case/pc-db5-missouri-et-al-v-biden-et-al-1192982

Missouri et al v. Biden et al
Case Summary
On May 5, 2022, the State of Missouri and the State of Louisiana (together, “Plaintiffs”), represented by Elizabeth B. Murrill of the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, filed a civil action against Joseph R. Biden, Jr.; Jennifer Rene Psaki; Vivek H. Murthy; Xavier Becerra; the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and Ors (collectively, “Defendants”), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, among other reliefs, for the Defendants’ alleged creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board” within the Department of Homeland Security which violates the fundamental right of free speech and free discourse for virtually all citizens in Missouri, Louisiana, and America, both on social media and elsewhere. This case was filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Louisiana with Judge Terry A. Doughty and Judge Kayla D. McClusky presiding.

In the complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that, “Defendants’ campaign of censorship has culminated in the recent announcement of the creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board '' within the Department of Homeland Security. “Our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need Oceania’s Ministry of T***h.” United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 728 (2012) (plurality op.). Likewise, our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need a “Disinformation Governance Board” within our federal domestic-security apparatus.”

The Plaintiffs further alleged that, “On information and belief, the immunity provided by Section 230 of the CDA directly contributed to the rise of a small number of extremely powerful social-media platforms, who have now turned into a “censorship cartel.” The liability provided by the federal government artificially subsidized, fostered, and encouraged the viewpoint and content-based censorship policies that those platforms have adopted at Defendants’ urging.”

The Plaintiffs also alleged that, “As a direct result of these actions, there has been an unprecedented rise of censorship and suppression of free speech—including core political speech—on social-media platforms. Not just fringe views, but perfectly legitimate, responsible viewpoints and speakers have been unlawfully and unconstitutionally silenced in the modern public square. These actions gravely threaten the fundamental right of free speech and free discourse for virtually all citizens in Missouri, Louisiana, and America, both on social media and elsewhere.”

The Plaintiffs then alleged that, “Thus, Defendants’ conduct alleged herein has created, with extraordinary efficacy, a situation where Americans seeking to exercise their core free-speech right to criticize the President of the United States are subject to aggressive prior restraint by private companies acting at the bidding of government officials. This situation is intolerable under the First Amendment.”

The Plaintiffs have laid down four claims for relief. The first claim alleged is for violation of the First Amendment, the second claim alleged is for an action in excess of statutory authority, the third claim alleged is against the HHS Defendants for the alleged violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the last claim alleged is against the DHS Defendants for the alleged violation of the Administrative Procedure Act


In their prayer for relief, the Plaintiffs requested that the Court declare that the Defendants’ conduct violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; declare that the Defendants’ conduct is ultra vires and exceeds their statutory authority; and also declare that the Defendants’ conduct violates the Administrative Procedure Act and is unlawful, and vacate and set aside such conduct and also grant injunctive relief against the Defendants from continuing to engage in the unlawful conduct alleged herein.

This case summary may not reflect the current position of the parties to this litigation or the status of this case. Sign up to view the latest case updates and court documents.

Original: CASE NO.3:22-CV-01213 STATE OF MISSOURI ET AL VERSUS JOSEPH R. BIDEN ET AL
Judge Terry A. Doughty
Mag. Judge Kayla D. McClusky

The advantages misinformation has.

By Philip Bump

Mike Lindell does not have any evidence that the 2020 e******n was tainted by significant v***r f***d.

He’ll argue with this, vociferously, claiming that he has indisputable electronic data showing interference from foreign powers. But on every occasion when he’s feinted toward allowing independent experts to review his purported evidence, it’s a dud. It was a dud last summer at a conference he held in South Dakota. It was a dud once again this summer.

I’ve long wondered why, if Lindell has all this evidence, he doesn’t simply turn it over to law enforcement. If he has any proof, anything at all, why not just make it public or hand it to the police? Lindell seems to think his data is unalterable (which isn’t true, but regardless), so why not loop in the FBI?

Well, there’s one good reason for that, as demonstrated to Lindell while he sat at a fast-food drive-through on Tuesday: The FBI works slowly. While he was at a Hardee’s grabbing food, FBI agents surrounded Lindell’s car and served him with a subpoena, seizing his phone, according to Lindell. The MyPillow CEO, warned not to discuss the encounter, readily announced that it was related to an investigation into a Colorado e******ns clerk’s alleged tampering with v****g machines. An act that (allegedly) occurred in the spring of 2021.

All of the checks our culture has on misinformation work too slowly to be effective. Mark Twain’s well-worn adage,
“A lie can travel around the world and back again while the t***h is lacing up its boots" was born in an era where getting halfway around the world took a few days. Now everything is faster, burrows deeper, spreads more widely than Twain could have imagined. But our processes for containing or counteracting false information haven’t changed much. It’s fighting the c****av***s with l***hes. It has been a particularly bad summer for some of the worst purveyors of misinformation polluting American politics.

Lindell’s encounter with the FBI was only the most prominent. He’s also still scrambling to figure out how he might defend himself in a massive defamation lawsuit brought against him by D******n V****g Systems, a suit that seems destined to end badly for the pillow salesman. Meanwhile, misinformation enthusiast Alex Jones was slapped with a massive punitive settlement by a jury in Texas, a result of false claims he made about the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Also this week, a company called K*****h filed a defamation suit against the group True the V**e. True the V**e is the organization that purports to have uncovered evidence of a massive b****t-moving scheme in the 2020 e******n, the claim at the core of Dinesh D’Souza’s film “2000 Mules.” But True the V**e has never provided any actual evidence of their claim and the film offers no evidence of people dumping b****ts in multiple drop boxes. So, at its own summit this summer, True the V**e tried to turn the page on “2000 Mules” — evidence still unseen — pointing its supporters instead at purported nefariousness from K*****h.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/watch-the-moment-when-the-2-000-mules-folks-admit-their-supposed-evidence-is-nonsense/ar-AA10JFjw?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=de7dfdd30bcf47e5b3a8e839e0d06453

The lag between True the V**e’s claims about K*****h and the lawsuit was remarkably short — but, then, it is also unresolved. The suit could d**g on for months; it could be thrown out. Meanwhile, True the V**e has been peddling its unproven claims about those b****ts for months, earning the embrace of the political right (and a lot of cash) despite the lack of demonstrated evidence.

This, of course, is a central point. There is no need to gin up theories about malfeasance. Take your pick: that the government is deeply corrupt, that the e******n was s****n, that the left can’t be trusted. Each of those is accepted as fact by millions of Americans. So there’s a market for purported evidence to bolster those points. Wild assertions about “false f**g” shootings. Claims about Chinese hackers changing v**es. Complicated-sounding analyses of cellphone data. There’s lots of misinformation that never moves an inch because there’s no fuel for it. But these claims are exactly what some people want to hear, so they take off.

The people questioning the claims, meanwhile, have a smaller audience. The tools for holding false claims in check work more slowly. D******n sued Lindell in February 2021, but, thanks to his pillow money, he has been able to keep the fight going. The shooting at the center of the Jones lawsuit happened nearly a decade ago.

True the V**e has kept pushing forward in part because of the vagueness of its allegations. It claims nonprofit groups were involved in the b****t-moving scheme, but which ones? D’Souza appears to have named some of them in a book he is selling as an accompaniment to his movie, but, after arriving in bookstores, the publishers pulled the first draft. NPR got a copy; it seems that D’Souza named specific groups who, understandably, object vociferously to the allegations being made. In response, True the V**e walked away from the filmmaker. In a statement, a spokesperson claimed that the group had no knowledge of “any allegations of activities of any specific organizations made in the book.” So, for the book, we’re asked to believe, D’Souza started freelancing on the data. (A question sent to D’Souza about the organizations was not answered by the time of publication.)

It’s vitally important that Americans be able to speak freely, of course. That free speech allows for the spread of false ideas is a hiccup in an essential system. The challenge is that we have no effective countervailing mechanism. Those who point out that misinformation is false or unsupported have no audience with the people who want to believe it. Legal tools for preventing the spread of falsehoods necessarily include stopgaps that slow the process down. So, misinformation spreads.

Speaking over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed to misinformation as a specific danger. The department was focused (as it has been even before President Biden’s inauguration) on the threat of “domestic violent extremists,” people who, among other things, embrace “an ideology of h**e, anti-government sentiment, false narratives propagated on online platforms, even personal grievances.” The department has issued bulletins identifying the danger of “an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories.”

Lindell is not a terrorist, of course. He doesn’t even appear to have been the direct target of the FBI’s search, though who knows? But he is pumping misinformation into the public discussion, misinformation centered on the idea that the federal government is illegitimate and the 2020 e******n flawed. It’s precisely the same misinformation that prompted hundreds of people to attack police as they sought to overrun the Capitol on J*** 6, 2021.

And here, 20 months later, Lindell is still amplifying the same idea without any immediate repercussions besides scolding newspaper articles.

The advantages misinformation has.

By Philip Bump

Mike Lindell does not have any evidence that the 2020 e******n was tainted by significant v***r f***d.

He’ll argue with this, vociferously, claiming that he has indisputable electronic data showing interference from foreign powers. But on every occasion when he’s feinted toward allowing independent experts to review his purported evidence, it’s a dud. It was a dud last summer at a conference he held in South Dakota. It was a dud once again this summer.

I’ve long wondered why, if Lindell has all this evidence, he doesn’t simply turn it over to law enforcement. If he has any proof, anything at all, why not just make it public or hand it to the police? Lindell seems to think his data is unalterable (which isn’t true, but regardless), so why not loop in the FBI?

Well, there’s one good reason for that, as demonstrated to Lindell while he sat at a fast-food drive-through on Tuesday: The FBI works slowly. While he was at a Hardee’s grabbing food, FBI agents surrounded Lindell’s car and served him with a subpoena, seizing his phone, according to Lindell. The MyPillow CEO, warned not to discuss the encounter, readily announced that it was related to an investigation into a Colorado e******ns clerk’s alleged tampering with v****g machines. An act that (allegedly) occurred in the spring of 2021.

All of the checks our culture has on misinformation work too slowly to be effective. Mark Twain’s well-worn adage,
“A lie can travel around the world and back again while the t***h is lacing up its boots" was born in an era where getting halfway around the world took a few days. Now everything is faster, burrows deeper, spreads more widely than Twain could have imagined. But our processes for containing or counteracting false information haven’t changed much. It’s fighting the c****av***s with l***hes. It has been a particularly bad summer for some of the worst purveyors of misinformation polluting American politics.

Lindell’s encounter with the FBI was only the most prominent. He’s also still scrambling to figure out how he might defend himself in a massive defamation lawsuit brought against him by D******n V****g Systems, a suit that seems destined to end badly for the pillow salesman. Meanwhile, misinformation enthusiast Alex Jones was slapped with a massive punitive settlement by a jury in Texas, a result of false claims he made about the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Also this week, a company called K*****h filed a defamation suit against the group True the V**e. True the V**e is the organization that purports to have uncovered evidence of a massive b****t-moving scheme in the 2020 e******n, the claim at the core of Dinesh D’Souza’s film “2000 Mules.” But True the V**e has never provided any actual evidence of their claim and the film offers no evidence of people dumping b****ts in multiple drop boxes. So, at its own summit this summer, True the V**e tried to turn the page on “2000 Mules” — evidence still unseen — pointing its supporters instead at purported nefariousness from K*****h.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/watch-the-moment-when-the-2-000-mules-folks-admit-their-supposed-evidence-is-nonsense/ar-AA10JFjw?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=de7dfdd30bcf47e5b3a8e839e0d06453

The lag between True the V**e’s claims about K*****h and the lawsuit was remarkably short — but, then, it is also unresolved. The suit could d**g on for months; it could be thrown out. Meanwhile, True the V**e has been peddling its unproven claims about those b****ts for months, earning the embrace of the political right (and a lot of cash) despite the lack of demonstrated evidence.

This, of course, is a central point. There is no need to gin up theories about malfeasance. Take your pick: that the government is deeply corrupt, that the e******n was s****n, that the left can’t be trusted. Each of those is accepted as fact by millions of Americans. So there’s a market for purported evidence to bolster those points. Wild assertions about “false f**g” shootings. Claims about Chinese hackers changing v**es. Complicated-sounding analyses of cellphone data. There’s lots of misinformation that never moves an inch because there’s no fuel for it. But these claims are exactly what some people want to hear, so they take off.

The people questioning the claims, meanwhile, have a smaller audience. The tools for holding false claims in check work more slowly. D******n sued Lindell in February 2021, but, thanks to his pillow money, he has been able to keep the fight going. The shooting at the center of the Jones lawsuit happened nearly a decade ago.

True the V**e has kept pushing forward in part because of the vagueness of its allegations. It claims nonprofit groups were involved in the b****t-moving scheme, but which ones? D’Souza appears to have named some of them in a book he is selling as an accompaniment to his movie, but, after arriving in bookstores, the publishers pulled the first draft. NPR got a copy; it seems that D’Souza named specific groups who, understandably, object vociferously to the allegations being made. In response, True the V**e walked away from the filmmaker. In a statement, a spokesperson claimed that the group had no knowledge of “any allegations of activities of any specific organizations made in the book.” So, for the book, we’re asked to believe, D’Souza started freelancing on the data. (A question sent to D’Souza about the organizations was not answered by the time of publication.)

It’s vitally important that Americans be able to speak freely, of course. That free speech allows for the spread of false ideas is a hiccup in an essential system. The challenge is that we have no effective countervailing mechanism. Those who point out that misinformation is false or unsupported have no audience with the people who want to believe it. Legal tools for preventing the spread of falsehoods necessarily include stopgaps that slow the process down. So, misinformation spreads.

Speaking over the weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed to misinformation as a specific danger. The department was focused (as it has been even before President Biden’s inauguration) on the threat of “domestic violent extremists,” people who, among other things, embrace “an ideology of h**e, anti-government sentiment, false narratives propagated on online platforms, even personal grievances.” The department has issued bulletins identifying the danger of “an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories.”

Lindell is not a terrorist, of course. He doesn’t even appear to have been the direct target of the FBI’s search, though who knows? But he is pumping misinformation into the public discussion, misinformation centered on the idea that the federal government is illegitimate and the 2020 e******n flawed. It’s precisely the same misinformation that prompted hundreds of people to attack police as they sought to overrun the Capitol on J*** 6, 2021.

And here, 20 months later, Lindell is still amplifying the same idea without any immediate repercussions besides scolding newspaper articles.