One news site is fighting back against NewsGuard, a company that gives news and information sites “reliability ratings and scores” that often work against conservative sites.
The suit was filed by Consortium News against NewsGuard and the U.S. government. It accuses the parties of colluding to censor their foreign policy reporting, defaming them and violating the First Amendment. They are seeking $13 million in damages, along with an injunction deeming the partnership between NewsGuard and the government unconstitutional.
The complaint said that NewsGuard is “acting jointly or in concert with the United States to coerce news organizations to alter viewpoints” and took issue with them deciding the whole site was unreliable based on just six articles they had a problem with.
Consortium maintains in its suit that NewsGuard is not a neutral fact checker because of its connection to the U.S. government. The company started presenting users who were looking at headlines on browsers equipped with NewsGuard with red warnings that said to “Proceed With Caution” and claimed the site printed “false claims about the Ukraine-Russia war.” This warning also informs advertisers, social media platforms and news aggregators they shouldn’t trust the site.
However, Consortium News is a legitimate publisher founded by a respected Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, Robert Parry. Known for its criticism of American foreign policy, it is not surprising that the government-backed NewsGuard targeted it over articles that have been substantiated by other outlets.
An attorney for the outlet, Bruce Afran, recently filed an amended complaint stating that in addition to defaming Consortium News, NewsGuard is serving as a front for the military to silence critical reports. He said: “What’s really happening here is that NewsGuard is trying to target those who take a different view from the government line.”
He added: “The government cannot evade the Constitution by hiring a private party.”
NewsGuard claims it is a “vaccine against misinformation,” which is also how it was pitched to big tech companies.
Continue: Naturalnews.com
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