CISA’s Censorship Scandal: Allegations of the US Cybersecurity Agency Threatening Internet Freedom

On June 26, 2023, the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Federal Government Procurement published an interim report detailing the alleged censorship practices of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the United States. According to the report, CISA entered into secret agreements with major technology firms (Big Tech) and third-party entities funded by the government to monitor and censor Americans’ conversations on social media, instead of protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. The report also highlighted that CISA specifically employed these tactics to suppress expression and information related to elections, labeling accurate information with the term “malinformation,” which has the potential to mislead.

What is CISA?
CISA is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) originally established to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. It was created by the CISA Act, which was passed in 2018, making it the youngest agency within the DHS. The mission of CISA is defined as “understanding, managing, and reducing the risks to critical infrastructure that are the foundation of our national security.” To fulfill this mission, CISA collaborates with federal, state, local, tribal, and regional governments, as well as private sector entities, academia, and international partners.

What Does the Report Contain?
The House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Federal Government Procurement published an interim report on June 26, 2023, titled “CISA’s Armament: How a ‘Cybersecurity’ Agency Collaborated with Big Tech and ‘Disinformation’ Partners to Censor Americans.” The findings within this report include:

- CISA engaged in secret agreements with major technology firms (Big Tech) and government-funded third parties to monitor and censor Americans’ conversations on social media, rather than ensuring the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure. These agreements aimed to conceal CISA’s unconstitutional activities.
- CISA was specifically used to suppress expression and information related to elections. CISA disseminated misinformation to mislead the public regarding election security and claimed to combat those attempting to manipulate election results.
- CISA labeled accurate information with the term “malinformation,” which refers to the malicious use or miscontextualization of true information. CISA established a team called the Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation (MDM) team to detect and eliminate such information, collaborating with third parties referred to as “disinformation partners.”
- CISA funded the Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Collaboration (CIS) Center. CIS is a nonprofit organization that serves to enhance the cybersecurity of state and local governments. However, according to the report, CIS facilitated CISA’s censorship activities and brought state and local governments under CISA’s control through two programs: the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). CISA spent $27 million in the 2024 fiscal year to operate EI-ISAC and MS-ISAC.

How Can I Access the Report?
You can access the full text of the report [here](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/cisa-staff-report6-26-23.pdf). I strongly recommend reading this report, particularly for those interested in the topics of Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation, and who are curious about how governments employ them to support their policies.