CISA Censors Join Forces With Private Groups To Target So-Called Election ‘Misinformation’

A federal agency with a record of online censorship is working with private groups to stop so-called “misinformation” ahead of November’s presidential election. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) – the federal government’s hub for online censorship — has been working with private groups since 2018 in an initiative dubbed the Election Infrastructure Subsector Coordinating Council (SCC), and boasts that its “collaboration” with “private sector partners is unprecedented.”

“CISA coordinates support for these election infrastructure partners across the federal government, with our state and local partners, and with the private sector to help them reduce cyber, physical, and operational security risks to election infrastructure,” a CISA representative said to The Federalist.

The SCC uses a “unified government and private sector approach,” working with a Government Coordinating Council (GCC) for “information-sharing and risk mitigation” before the election, according to a 2024 update on the councils’ work hosted by CISA online.

The document warns of “risks” from “false or misleading information about election administration.”

CISA noted so-called “misinformation campaigns” in 2022, and claimed they “exacerbated” a “threat environment for targeted violence.” A 2024 “Homeland Threat Assessment” by CISA’s parent agency warned that such unapproved speech would carry the “potential for violence or threats directed at government officials, voters, and elections-related personnel and infrastructure.”

The SCC and GCC have been telling “election stakeholders” to do things like create websites to “provide accurate information” and “dispel false information,” according to CISA’s 2024 update, which noted these efforts are “expected to expand.”

The SCC participates in security briefings with CISA, the FBI, election officials, and “private sector owners and operators.” 

‘Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation’

The SCC and GCC formed a “Joint Mis/Disinformation Working Group,” which created a document called “Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation: Planning and Incident Response Guide for Election Officials.” 

CISA, which partnered with outside groups to censor speech before the 2020 election, hosts the document online. The SCC and GCC created the document to help “state, local, tribal, and territorial election officials” with a “larger mis-, dis-, and malinformation (MDM)” strategy. 

CISA defines “misinformation” as information that is false but not deliberately misleading, and “disinformation” as “deliberately created to mislead [or] harm.” Perhaps most alarmingly, CISA labels “malinformation” as “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

The document includes a “checklist” to guide local election officials in responding to information of which the government disapproves. It recommends officials take steps like “understand reporting mechanisms for flagging MDM on social media” and “designate an individual to oversee the MDM response.”

The SCC and GCC claim in the document that supposed “mis-, dis-, and malinformation” comes from not just “foreign actors” but also “domestic sources aiming to sow divisions and reduce national cohesion.”

“False narratives erode trust and pose a threat to democratic transitions,” the document reads.

The document includes a chart with categories of “mis-, dis-, and malinformation,” one of which is the “delegitimization of election results.” It defines this as “narratives or content that delegitimizes election results or sows distrust in the integrity of the process based on false or misleading claims.”

The chart features examples of alleged election “rumor” and official talking points of “reality.” 

A line at the bottom of the page notes the categories were “adapted from the Election Integrity Project’s (EIP) final report on misinformation and the 2020 election.” 

The House Judiciary Committee found last year that CISA used the EIP before the 2020 election to “launder its censorship activities” to bypass the First Amendment and public criticism. The EIP made “misinformation” reports available to “select parties,” including the federal government, universities, and Big Tech companies. 

“The EIP targeted true information, jokes, and political opinions of Americans across the political spectrum, but especially conservatives,” according to a press release. 

The groups targeted The Federalist’s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway and CEO Sean Davis in 2020 along with former President Donald Trump and other conservative posters.

The Players

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson designated election infrastructure as a “critical infrastructure subsector” in 2017 — including it in the “National Infrastructure Protection Plan.”

Johnson denied the move was a “federal takeover, regulation, oversight or intrusion” by DHS, which contains CISA. Instead, he insisted it would simply “make[] it easier for the federal government to have full and frank discussions with key stakeholders.”

The GCC was founded that year. The SCC launched in 2018, bringing together private firms that offer election “services, systems, products or technology” to state or local governments. The group works with the GCC as a “liaison” between election groups and government agencies like DHS.

Twenty-five “organizing member” groups first joined the group, according to its charter. It is unclear which groups are still part of the council. 

A copy of the charter that was last updated in 2020 lists the Electronic Registration Information Center as a member. ERIC was founded by David Becker — director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, which used close to $70 million in “Zuckbucks” from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to influence election administration and promote Democrat-backed voting practices ahead of the 2020 election.

Becker founded ERIC in 2012 as a multi-state voter roll “maintenance” platform, where states submit election data supposedly to help remove dead and duplicate voters. But ERIC shares that data with CEIR, so the groups can determine targets for registration efforts. 

The Federalist asked Becker about his group’s work with the SCC and CISA, but did not receive comment in time for publication.

Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems are also listed as organizing members. A federal grand jury indicted Smartmatic executives, including the company’s president, on Aug. 8 for an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme. 

Smartmatic’s Director of Certification Edwin Smith became chair of the SCC in 2022, at which point the company said the council had 43 members from a “diverse set of companies.” 

Both companies have sued conservative media over their coverage of the 2020 election. Billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and top Democrat donor Reid Hoffman has bankrolled some of that lawfare.

The 2020 Election

In the 2020 election, the Center for Tech and Civic Life used at least $328 million in “Zuckbucks” to meddle in local election processes and boost Democratic turnout. The group recently announced another round of grants ahead of November’s presidential election, and for guidance on how offices can use this funding, CTCL referred to CISA’s 2020 “Election Infrastructure Subsector Specific Plan.” The document reveals CISA coordinated with agencies and private groups through the SCC and GCC ahead of the 2020 election to combat “misinformation.”

Members of the SCC and GCC promoted “cybersecurity training” from CTCL to the “broader subsector” ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to the document.

The Federalist previously reported the group offers online training telling election administrators how to shut down speech deemed “misinformation” and sway elected officials.

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Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.

The Federalist