West Cook News

The Republicans claim that it's still not clear what the Disinformation Governance Board will actually do and are hence, heavily criticizing it.

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has spoken about the creation of a Disinformation Governance Board on several occasions, from countering Russian cyberattacks to combating misinformation from human smugglers. Now that the Board is in place, it is receiving heavy criticism from the Republicans.  

"We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security," said Mayorkas.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a "fact sheet" on May 2 describing the Disinformation Governance Board as an internal working group established with the purpose of combatting disinformation, which DHS defines as "false information that is deliberately spread with the intent to deceive or mislead." The DHS has asked the public to keep their faith in the group. Elon Musk has already made a tweet declaring it as 'messed up.'

The fitness of the Board's director, Nina Jankowicz, has also been called into question, as reported Washington Post. "Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans' speech its top priority. They're creating a Disinformation Board. No, really. And take a look at the views of the leftist radical running it," Sen Josh Hawley tweeted.

Meanwhile, in the last few weeks, Mayorkas also warned of a sudden rise in the spread of disinformation which is mainly trying to break down the integrity of the election system, CNN reports. "We are seeing a rise in misinformation and disinformation that is attempting to strike at the integrity of the election system and people's right to vote," Mayorkas said.