The War on Truth in This World and the Next

As many Democrats agree that Congress ought to apply some limit to the power of Big Tech platforms, the Biden administration calls on these tech companies to stop the spread of misinformation. Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

Commentary

Chris Hardwick, the American comedian and actor, once said: “We’re not in an information age anymore. We’re in the information management age.”

He’s right.

With so much information out there—a lot of good and a lot of it bad—it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction. That’s why governments worldwide are stepping up efforts to do the separating for us. It should worry us all. The arbiters of truth can’t be trusted.

Authors at Reclaim the Net recently discussed worrying trends in two countries that have become increasingly oppressive in recent years. In New Zealand, home to some of the most oppressive COVID-19 lockdown measures in the Western world, the attempt to combat misinformation has taken a rather ominous turn. Authorities have just released a comprehensive guide to help citizens identify violent extremists.

According to New Zealand’s secret service, these extremists are primarily motivated by their white identity and/or religious beliefs. In recent times, however, a new group motivated by an extremely novel issue has emerged. This group consists of individuals who question the COVID narrative, the efficacy of masks, and draconian lockdown measures. These people, you see, have sipped too much Kool-Aid and consumed too much “misinformation” and “disinformation.”

For these reasons, they now pose a grave threat to the people of New Zealand. They are to be monitored and, if necessary, dealt with by law enforcement.

Police stop vehicles at a checkpoint on SH1 north of Wellsford in Auckland, New Zealand, on Aug. 12, 2020. Auckland was placed in full COVID lockdown for three days, with all residents ordered to work from home unless they are essential workers and all schools and childcare centers to close.  Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

Meanwhile, in France, Emmanuel Macron is masterminding a plan to crack down on “disinformation.” As Reclaim reported, the French president plans to regulate the internet via the biggest tech platforms on the planet. On Nov. 10, the 44-year-old met with various representatives of major tech giants, including Microsoft, Facebook (Meta), Amazon, and TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company with close ties to Beijing.

Big Government is merging with Big Tech to police information, which is nothing new. It has been occurring for years. But, it must be stressed that this partnership appears to be becoming much more potent. The French government, like so many others, has a tenuous grasp on honesty. The likes of Facebook and TikTok, meanwhile, only add fuel to the “misinformation” inferno. In this attempt to put out the fire, should Big Tech and Big Government be viewed as firefighters or arsonists?

Of course, one can’t discuss the war on “misinformation” without discussing the United States. In October, a trove of documents, first obtained by The Intercept, outlined the many ways the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to target purveyors of information non grata. To be more specific, the documents clearly show how Big Government and Big Tech giants are collaborating to flag potentially dangerous content, including “election-related disinformation.”

Prominent politicians—such as Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar, for example—are demanding that government officials have a greater say in what information is allowed to be posted and shared online. To be clear, certain information shouldn’t be championed or platformed. regardless of one’s political leanings. This information includes anything that’s explicitly racist or antisemitic in nature.

However, we must push back when it comes to questioning issues such as the integrity of elections, the efficacy of lockdown measures, and science-free mask mandates. There’s a concerted effort to punish those who stray from the prescribed, pre-approved narrative. A healthy society thrives on heterodox thinking, not homogenous groupthink.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security building is seen in Washington on July 22, 2019. Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

In the years to come, one needn’t be Nostradamus to see that this attempt to police “misinformation” and “disinformation” will only intensify in nature. In October, some of the biggest players in Big Tech, Big Media, and Big Government attended the Athens Democracy Forum. One of the topics discussed involved how democratic institutions can help shape the metaverse. By shape, of course, I mean govern.

For the uninitiated, the metaverse is intended to be the next step in the internet’s evolution. As I have discussed elsewhere, users will navigate this Brave New World through wearable devices. Think of the metaverse as a habitable internet, a more engrossing environment that will consume both mind and body. Who will police this virtual-reality space?

You guessed it, the very people policing this one.

Speakers at the Democracy Forum included former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent U.S. economist with a questionable history. The event, it must be noted, was sponsored by Facebook (Meta), Microsoft, the U.N. Democracy Fund, and the Council of Europe, among others. Besides the metaverse, those in attendance also talked about the scourge of “fake news” and various forms of “misleading” information.

In this world—as well as the next one, it seems—the only thing that will change is time. Those in power will remain in power, passing the baton to like-minded individuals willing to echo their sentiments. As the war on “misinformation” continues to intensify, expect more severe punishments for those unwilling to read from the carefully constructed script.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.