Spotlight on Mike Benz
The Man Sounding the Alarm on Censorship Infrastructure
Hi friends,
I encourage you to watch one of Mike Benz’s interviews. You will be blown away.
If you’ve never heard of Mike Benz, it’s not because he’s been silenced. In fact, he’s been making the rounds with some of the most influential voices in alternative and conservative media. He’s also been sitting at the same tables as top U.S. policymakers—including the current Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. But he’s not a household name yet, and that may be by design.
This entry in our Spotlight series introduces you to a man whose work is reshaping the public conversation about censorship, national security, and the covert digital influence of U.S. agencies.
Who is Mike Benz?
Mike Benz is a former State Department official who worked during the Trump administration, specializing in cyber diplomacy and online censorship issues. He served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy, with a portfolio that involved countering digital authoritarianism and promoting free speech online. Benz focused on how internet freedom, censorship, and Big Tech intersected with national security interests.
Today, he is the founder and executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO), an organization that investigates the rise of government-tied censorship programs operating through third-party NGOs, universities, and tech partnerships. FFO’s work aims to expose what Benz calls the “censorship-industrial complex.”
Why His Work Matters
Benz is not merely warning about censorship in general—he’s detailing the mechanisms behind it. He explains how U.S. government agencies, including the State Department, the Pentagon, and intelligence networks, fund and direct “anti-disinformation” campaigns that suppress speech both overseas and domestically.
"You’re not looking at censorship that’s happening on a whim. You’re looking at a full-blown infrastructure—contractors, protocols, agencies, funding streams—all engineered to shape what people are allowed to say or hear." – Mike Benz, Tucker Carlson interview (2024)
His critics say he overstates the case, but his documentation is extensive. He draws direct lines from U.S. foreign policy tools used abroad—like USAID-backed narrative manipulation in Afghanistan or Ukraine—to similar structures now operating inside the U.S.
Key Appearances
CPAC 2025 Panel (with the White House press secretary): C-SPAN video
State Department Briefing with Secretary Marco Rubio: View at state.gov
The CIA’s Use of NGOs to Coup Foreign Governments, and How They’re Doing It to Trump
Mike Benz Exposes The Secret NGO Wargame to Overthrow Trump, Highlights
Uncensored: The National Security State & the Inversion of Democracy
Mike Benz on Tucker Carlson: The Deep State’s Step-by-Step Plan to End Free Speech
Joe Rogan Interview (Dec 2024): A deep dive into foreign policy, information warfare, and domestic suppression.
You can also follow Benz directly:
Michael Benz on X (Twitter)
What is the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO)?
Founded by Benz in 2021, FFO is a watchdog group that investigates digital censorship operations linked to public-private partnerships. FFO’s reports often reveal how:
Government funds are passed through NGOs and think tanks to pressure platforms like Facebook or YouTube.
Universities like Stanford and Harvard host censorship consortia tied to federal grants.
Foreign influence operations are mirrored in U.S. domestic policy.
Their mission: to expose censorship disguised as safety, foreign policy, or public health.
One of their most notable investigations revealed how the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a group flagged by Benz, collaborated with DHS and Stanford University to monitor and flag over 22 million social media posts during the 2020 U.S. election cycle. According to FFO, EIP served as a workaround for federal agencies that lacked direct legal authority to police domestic speech. Stanford’s Internet Observatory, through its leadership in the EIP, became a central node in what Benz describes as a "censorship network"—bridging federal funding, academic research, and Big Tech moderation.
This raises critical questions: Should a federal agency outsource the monitoring of U.S. citizens' speech to academic institutions and private contractors? Who decides what constitutes misinformation, and under whose authority? And what are the long-term implications for public discourse and constitutional protections when such networks operate behind closed doors?
To read more, visit foundationforfreedomonline.com and search their Election Integrity Partnership archive.
Bottom Line
Mike Benz is not asking for outrage. He’s asking for attention—to the documents, the funding trails, and the people who decide what counts as “disinformation.”
In a time when digital truth is increasingly curated, Benz’s work invites Americans to follow the money and ask: who benefits when dissenting speech disappears?
Sources
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A243/279946/20230920125416211_Benz_Amicus_Final.pdf
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF16/20230328/115561/HHRG-118-IF16-20230328-SD012.pdf
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/82946C97-2383-418E-9C95-89D6A3F689C6
God bless you, God bless President Trump and team, and God bless America!
The battle for our God-given freedoms is always just starting.
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