How a Pro-Biden Billionaire Funded Mass Censorship in 2020

The scoop: The Department of Homeland Security's contentious initiative to censor social media during the 2020 election was largely financed by a partisan billionaire. The billionaire’s pro-Democracy foundation financed a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that then collaborated with a government body to drive the campaign to control social media discourse.

Funding censorship: Documents reveal that the billionaire founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, funded a specialized portal operated by the Center for Internet Security (CIS). This portal was then used by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the DHS wing that oversaw the federal censorship push. The portal was critical in the rapid removal of primarily conservative posts on social platforms like Twitter and Facebook in 2020.

Take a step back: Despite Donald Trump's control of the executive branch at the time, pro-Biden billionaires such as Omidyar managed to hinder the democratic process via financial means, enabling the federal government to censor certain topics and viewpoints in support of Trump. This intervention ultimately benefited Joe Biden's campaign, to which Omidyar was one of the top contributors.

Sidenote: While Omidyar invested in a private security startup that’s been described as the "Uber for bodyguards," he simultaneously donated close to $2 million to groups advocating for defunding or even abolishing the police, according to reports. He reportedly contributed $500,000 to organizations protesting the death of George Floyd. Furthermore, groups funded by Omidyar reportedly dispatched another $1.3 million to support a website named DefundPolice.org, used by advocates pushing for reductions in police budgets.