Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis Orders Halt to Contracts with News Censorship Groups Like NewsGuard

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis ordered the state’s Department of Financial Services to halt contracts with groups involved in news censorship or blacklisting activities, including media censor NewsGuard.

“Florida rejects censorship! Today, I barred @FLDFS from working with censorship & blacklisting groups like NewsGuard. These groups issue ‘credibility ratings’ on news sources to diminish information they don’t like. That’s wrong!” Patronis announced in a Wednesday X post.

In his post, Patronis shared a proclamation stating he “recognizes that First Amendment protections such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press are foundational American rights, critical to democracy, and must be safeguarded against illegitimate infringement.”

“Organizations like NewsGuard Technologies, Inc., the Global Disinformation Index, Graphika Technologies, Inc., and other similar organizations are attaching largely subjective ‘credibility ratings’ and ‘misinformation’ labels to news sources,” the proclamation said.

“News source blacklisting means placing a news source on a list, or creating ratings systems and scores, indicating a news source is not considered credible or reliable, and such censorship and blacklisting activities also occur under the stated function of ‘fact checking,'” Patronis explained.

The proclamation went on to say that “targeted news sources may suffer diminished advertising revenues, often intentionally, as a result of NewsGuard and other similar organizations’ censorship and blacklisting activities.”

The Florida Chief Financial Officer called these practices “deeply undemocratic,” adding that they “have resulted in the ‘debanking’ and ‘deplatforming’ of legitimate private entities.”

Patronis also noted that the U.S. Department of Defense has a $750,000 contract with NewsGuard, which was followed by “adverse credibility ratings for news sources that accurately reported on the Biden administration” — a clear indication that the government is working with an organization that censors speech, which violates the First Amendment.

Therefore, all divisions within Florida’s Department of Financial Services “that utilize promotional contracts or marketing and/or public education campaigns may not enter into or renew a contract or agreement with an entity for the purpose of developing, providing or using news source censorship or blacklisting services,” the proclamation stated.

Additionally, all of these divisions in the state’s Department of Financial Services “may not use, or allow a contractor to use, censorship or blacklisting services for ad-buys and/or marketing placements,” the statement added.

As Breitbart News reported, four big global advertising agencies, including Global Alliance for Responsible Media members — which have been accused of censoring online speech and attempting to silence media outlets including Breitbart News — have received billions in federal contracts.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.