Editor's Note: There are several major updates regarding the originally published article. Due to Kaminsky's research with the 'Washington Examiner' and public outrage to blacklists against conservatives, Microsoft's ad agency, Xandr, has removed conservative sites from their blacklist and discontinued their relationship with the Global Disinformation Index (GDI). Read the original story below.
GlennBeck.com has been financially blacklisted by Microsoft-owned ad agency, Xandr, after being listed on a leftist non-profit's "exclusion list" for propagating "disinformation." Glenn interviewed the reporter breaking the story.
Washington Examiner reporter Gabe Kaminsky broke a series of articles detailing the coordinated effort between ad agencies and leftist non-profits to financially suffocate conservative sites—including glennbeck.com.
Kaminsky found that major ad companies are seeking guidance from self-described "non-partisan" media groups to detect websites carrying "disinformation" with the aim of restricting ads on those sites, depriving conservative media outlets of vital ad revenue. Most notably, Xandr, a massive digital ad agency purchased by Microsoft from AT&T for $1 billion in 2021, announced in 2022 that they would be adopting the Global Disinformation Index's "exclusion list" to punish content that is "morally reprehensible or patently offensive," lacking "redeeming social value," or "could include false or misleading information," according to emails exposed by Kaminsky.
Major ad agencies are depriving conservative media outlets of vital ad revenue.
The "Global Disinformation Index" (GDI) is a leftist non-profit that is targeting conservative media while purporting to be "non-partisan." GDI's recently-published "Disinformation Risk Assessment" listing their self-proclaimed "10 highest and lowest-risk news outlets" demonstrates their overt-leftist bias.
Among their "10 riskiest online news outlets" list included TheBlaze, Daily Wire, New York Post, and other conservative news outlets, accusing the sites of "bias" and "prevalence of sensational language." It is little surprise that their list of the "10 lowest-risk news outlets" included left-leaning sources like the Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, Buzzfeed News, Huffington Post, and others. The only centrist news source listed on their "10 lowest-risk news outlets" was the Wall Street Journal.
GDI lists left-leaning newsources such as the 'Washington Post' and 'Huffington Post' on their 'Lowest Risk Media Outlet' list.Courtesy of the Global Disinformation Index
The "Global Disinformation Index" (GDI) is a leftist non-profit that is targeting conservative media while purporting to be "non-partisan."
GDI lists right-leaning newsources such as the 'Blaze' and 'Daily Wire' on their 'Highest Risk Media Outlet' list.Courtest of the Global Disinformation Index
GDI submitted a report to the UN stating its aim is "to defund disinformation" and break "the incentive to create it for the purpose of garnering advertising revenues." GDI compiled a larger "exclusion list" to further this end. This "exclusion list" contains 2,000 domain names, most of which are conservative-leaning, and is distributed to ad companies for the sake of restricting their ad space on those sites. Glennbeck.com is one of the 2,000 domains listed.
The aforementioned Microsoft-owned Xandr is one of the major ad companies using this list to restrict revenue to conservative media sources. An executive at an ad agency who contracts with conservative media outlets anonymously disclosed to the Washington Examiner a list of 37 conservative media outlets that Xander is financially punishing and censoring based on the fact that they are listed on GDI's "exclusion list." Glennbeck.com was included in this list alongside other conservative spokespersons' domains, including charliekirk.com, rushlimbaugh.com, billoreilly.com, hannity.com, and others.
Glennbeck.com is being financially blacklisted and punished by Microsoft-owned ad company, Xandr.
Glennbeck.com is listed among the conserative domains that are being financially punished by Microsoft-owned ad agency, Xandr.Courtesy of the 'Washington Examiner'
Even more troubling is the federal government's involvement in this collusion. Kaminsky found that his GDI has received "$330,000 from two State Department-backed entities linked to the highest levels of government." Our federal government is apparently bankrolling an organization aimed at defunding conservative platforms. This is an explicit violation of the First Amendment.
Our federal government is apparently bankrolling an organization aimed at defunding conservative platforms.
Dan Schneider, vice president for the Media Research Center's Free Speech Alliance group, compared this coordinated effort to redlining, which financially restricted African Americans' ability to buy homes, or blacklists in Hollywood that prevent conservatives from getting contracts based solely on their beliefs. As Schneider told the Washington Examiner, "What we see going on is not new."
The free press and freedom of speech are the bedrock of a free society's ability to keep the government accountable. That is why it is enshrined in the First Amendment. As Glenn said after the bombshell Twitter Files story dropped, "Without a free and independent press, you can’t have a free and independent civilization." When we don't have a free press, then the press is doing the bidding of the government, which, as Glenn said, "is what they had in Soviet Russia or what they have in China and North Korea today."
We have already seen through the Twitter Files that big tech is doing the bidding of the deep state, censoring content that threatens their leftist narrative. Now the Washington Examiner's groundbreaking story shows that "big advertising" is also in bed with leftist organizations. In both cases, the federal government is both explicitly and financially involved in censoring conservative content for its own benefit.
