Non-profit

Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO)

Type:

Online Watchdog Group

Founder and Executive Director:

Mike Benz

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The Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) is right-of-center online watchdog group. 1 Former Trump administration U.S. State Department official Mike Benz is the founder and executive director of the FFO. 2

Critics of Benz and FFO claim he previously was an “alt-right content creator.” 3 Benz has claimed that his previous involvement in controversial forums was part of “a project by Jews to get people who hated Jews to stop hating Jews” that “made contact with groups in the early primordial soup of the MAGA movement in 2016 and sought to move people from a place of hate and division closer to a place of love and unity” and “was successful.” 4

Background

The Foundation for Freedom Online is a right-of-center online watchdog group that claims to promote “an open Internet.” 1 The group further claims it advocates in favor of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and the free exchange of ideas online. 2

The organization writes and publishes reports, provides legal assistance, and analyzes public policy concerning what it claims are threats to digital safety and online rights. 2

The group reporting also focuses on the impact of politics on freedom of speech speech on social media. The group further claims it advocates for holding public officials accountable to ensure they protect Americans’ First Amendment rights online. 1

Founder

Mike Benz is the founder and executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO). 2 Benz previously served as a deputy assistant to the U.S. secretary of state during the Trump administration 5 where focused on negotiating U.S. foreign policy on international communications and information technology matters. 2 Benz has previously claimed that the “two most censored events in human history” were the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic. 6

During an interview with Federal Newswire in 2023, Benz claimed that the FFO’s goal is to, “to restore the golden age of the internet. The free and open internet that existed from the time it was privatized in 1991, up until the geopolitical earthquakes of 2016.” He further claimed that after 2016 there was, “a sort of whole-society effort to implement domestic censorship.” 7

NBC News reported in October 2023 that Benz “appears to have been a pseudonymous alt-right content creator” under the name “Frame Game,” who warned about a “white genocide” before he worked in government. Though professing to be Jewish, “Frame Game” also denounced “Jewish influence” in society and the media. “Frame Game” also allegedly posted about “Great Replacement Theory,” a conspiracy theory of systematically replacing white Americans with non-white immigrants. NBC News cited an anonymous “acquaintance of Benz” as its source on the story. 3

Benz has claimed that his previous involvement in controversial forums was part of “a project by Jews to get people who hated Jews to stop hating Jews” that “made contact with groups in the early primordial soup of the MAGA movement in 2016 and sought to move people from a place of hate and division closer to a place of love and unity” and “was successful.” He further argued that he was “extremely proud of this [project].” He also wrote, “I would not participate today and do not endorse participating in something like this in a general sense. It was a creature of a very bizarre and volatile time in early 2016 in which fellow conservative Jews were facing rising sentiments of anti-Semitism on our right – from people voting the same way for President – and political persecution and censorship from the ADL on our left. Having to move extreme elements from a fixation on identity to a focus on reforming institutions was a Bizarro World situation that called for a kind of Bizarro World logic of which I am proud, but would not repeat today.”4

The New York Times reported that Benz responded to the allegations by claiming his involvement in such controversial forums was part of “‘a deradicalization project’ to which he contributed in a ‘limited manner.’”8

Research and Claims

Reports by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) have previously been cited by the U.S. House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 3 9

The FFO investigated the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, or GARM, which shut down in 2024 amid congressional and legal scrutiny. The FFO analysis found that four of GARM’s members were among the “big six” global advertising agency holding companies that received billions from federal departments including the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. 10

The organization also alleged that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has censored conservatives while claiming to be engaged in “cybersecurity operations.” He said the agency was “shipping out the dirty work to firms in London,” by working with the Global Engagement Center of the U.S. State Department and sending information to a British psychology lab called the Social Decision-Making Lab at the University of Cambridge. 11

The FFO has argued that certain nonprofits are part of a larger “censorship industry” that collaborates with government agencies to control and moderate online content, using the excuse of fighting misinformation and disinformation. Benz claims there is a revolving door between government roles in misinformation control and positions at non-profits. He further claimed that an example was with the Atlantic Council, which ran an opinion piece by Carole House, formerly Director for Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation for the White House National Security Council. 12

FFO executive director Mike Benz accused NewsGuard of creating a blacklist of 650 news sites that it used to pressure advertisers to boycott. He compared this to “Operation Mockingbird,” a CIA operation from the 1950s to the 1970s aimed at influencing media content. 13

Renee DiResta, a former research director of the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), criticized the FFO in a New York Times op-ed claiming that an FFO’s report, in which it claimed the SIO’s Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) had pushed social media networks to censor 22 million Twitter posts was false. DiResta’s op-ed further argued that the number FFO came to was a tally of viral election rumors her organization counted and put in a report after the 2020 election was over, and insisted nothing was censored. 14

Foreign Policy Assertions

Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) executive director Mike Benz has previously claimed that the biggest driver of Internet censorship the “foreign policy establishment” which he asserts includes, “our State Department, our Pentagon, our intelligence services.” 15

Benz further alleged that the U.S. government had funded the Brazilian NGOs and Brazilian think tanks that were part of the Brazilian government’s move to ban X (formerly Twitter) in the country. 16

References

  1. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Foundation for Freedom Online.” Accessed September 13, 2024. https://foundationforfreedomonline.com/faq/
  2. “About.” Foundation for Freedom Online.” Accessed September 13, 2024. https://foundationforfreedomonline.com/about/
  3. Zadrozny, Brandy. “Michael Benz, a conservative crusader against online censorship, appears to have a secret history as an alt-right persona.” NBC News. October 6, 2023. Accessed September 13, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/michael-benz-rising-voice-conservative-criticism-online-censorship-rcna119213
  4. Benz, Mike. “X (Formerly Twitter) Post.” X (formerly Twitter), October 6, 2023. https://x.com/mikebenzcyber/status/1710479185028726943?s=46&t=YsgEbbRrrkiWS0OIBR_Znw.
  5. Mike Benz and Marc Beckman. “Some Future Day: How The US Government Uses Social Media To Censor Free Speech.” April 9, 2024. Accessed September 13, 2024. https://www.sps.nyu.edu/homepage/metaverse/metaverse-podcasts/some-future-day/some-future-day-how-the-us-government-uses-social-media-to-censor-free-speech.html
  6. D’Abrosca, Peter. “Free Speech Expert: 2020 Election and COVID-19 Pandemic Most Censored Events in Human History.” Tennessee Star. February 27, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://tennesseestar.com/tech-media/free-speech-expert-2020-election-and-covid-19-pandemic-most-censored-events-in-human-history/pdabrosca/2024/02/27/
  7. “Unraveling the Web of Internet Freedom: A Candid Conversation with Mike Benz, Former Diplomat Turned Digital Freedom Advocate.” Federal News Wire. April 18, 2023. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://thefederalnewswire.com/stories/641707686-unraveling-the-web-of-internet-freedom-a-candid-conversation-with-mike-benz-former-diplomat-turned-digital-freedom-advocate
  8. Rutenberg, Jim, and Steven Lee Myers. “How Trump’s Allies Are Winning the War over Disinformation.” The New York Times, March 17, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/politics/trump-disinformation-2024-social-media.html.
  9. Nix, Naomi and Menn, Joseph. “These academics studied falsehoods spread by Trump. Now the GOP wants answers.” Washington Post. June 6, 2023. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/06/disinformation-researchers-congress-jim-jordan/
  10. Piper, Greg. “Disinformation Police Officer NewsGuard Goes After Free-Speech Lawyer, Olympics Narratives as Peers.” Tennessee Star. August 13, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://tennesseestar.com/news/disinformation-police-officer-newsguard-goes-after-free-speech-lawyer-olympics-narratives-as-peers-fall-to-scrutiny/jtnews/2024/08/13/
  11. Housler, Kaitlin. “Mike Benz Exposes Cynical Censorship Practices at the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.” Tennessee Star. July 30, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://tennesseestar.com/tech-media/mike-benz-exposes-cynical-censorship-practices-at-the-dhss-cybersecurity-and-infrastructure-security-agency/khousler/2024/07/30/
  12. “Atlantic Council Fellow Lays Out Digital ID, DPI Considerations.” Find Biometrics. July 2, 2024. Accessed September 13, 2024. https://findbiometrics.com/atlantic-council-fellow-lays-out-digital-id-dpi-considerations/
  13. Thomas, Jim. “Benz: Left Censors Conservatives Using Ad Agencies.” Newsmax. August 1, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/censorship-mike-benz-conservatives/2024/08/01/id/1174942/
  14. DiResta, Renée. “What Happened to Stanford Spells Trouble for the Election.” New York Times. June 25, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/opinion/stanford-disinformation-election-jordan-twitter.html
  15. O’Neil, Tyler. “Terrifying: The True Force Behind the ‘Censorship Industrial Complex.’” Daily Signal. April 9, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/09/uniparty-foreign-policy-blob-codifying-war-wrongthink-big-tech-biden-admin-analysts-warn/
  16. Hains, Tim. “Mike Benz: U.S. Government Must Strongly Condemn Brazil Banning Twitter/X.” Real Clear Politics. August 30, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2024. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/08/30/mike_benz_us_government_must_strongly_condemn_brazil_banning_twitterx.html
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