A State Department agency – which has been chided by conservatives for its alleged blacklisting of Americans and news outlets – is set to be refunded in the continuing resolution (CR) bill currently being hammered out among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The Global Engagement Center has been included in page 139 of the CR. Although it doesn’t specify its budget allocation, a previous Inspector General report shows the agency’s FY 2020 budget totaled $74.26 million, of which $60 million was appropriated by Congress. 

The provision in the CR can be found under "Foreign Affairs Section 301. Global Engagement Center Extension," and comes despite the State Department saying in response to a lawsuit that it intended to shut down the agency by next week.

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The GEC, according to reporter Matt Taibbi, "funded a secret list of subcontractors and helped pioneer and insidious—and idiotic—new form of blacklisting" during the pandemic. 

Taibbi wrote last year when exposing the Twitter Files that the GEC "flagged accounts as ‘Russian personas and proxies’ based on criteria like, ‘Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,’ blaming ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute,’ and ‘attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.’" 

"State also flagged accounts that retweeted news that Twitter banned the popular U.S. website ZeroHedge, claiming it 'led to another flurry of disinformation narratives.'" ZeroHedge had made reports speculating that the virus had a lab origin.

Elon Musk previously described the GEC as being the "worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation." 

"They are a threat to our democracy," Musk wrote in a subsequent tweet. 

The GEC is part of the State Department but also partners with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Special Operations Command and the Department of Homeland Security. The GEC also funds the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).

Taibbi offered various instances in which the DFRLab and the GEC sent Twitter a list of accounts they believed were engaged in "state-backed coordinated manipulation." However, a quick glance from Twitter employees determined that the list was shoddy and included the accounts of multiple American citizens with seemingly no connection to the foreign entity in question.

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DFRLab Director Graham Brookie previously denied the claim that they use tax money to track Americans, saying its GEC grants have "an exclusively international focus."

A 2024 report from the Republican-led House Small Business Committee criticized the GEC for awarding grants to organizations whose work includes tracking domestic as well as foreign misinformation and rating the credibility of U.S.-based publishers, according to the Washington Post. 

The State Department, in response to a lawsuit, said it intended to shut down the agency on Dec. 23. But the CR provision means, if passed, it will continue to operate.

The lawsuit was brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Daily Wire and the Federalist, who sued the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other government officials earlier this month for "engaging in a conspiracy to censor, deplatform and demonetize American media outlets disfavored by the federal government."

The lawsuit stated that the GEC was used as a tool for the defendants to carry out its censorship. 

"Congress authorized the creation of the Global Engagement Center expressly to counter foreign propaganda and misinformation," the Texas Attorney General’s Office said in a press release. "Instead, the agency weaponized this authority to violate the First Amendment and suppress Americans’ constitutionally-protected speech. 

The complaint describes the State Department’s project as "one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation.’"

The lawsuit argued that The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and other conservative news organizations were branded "unreliable" or "risky" by the agency, "starving them of advertising revenue and reducing the circulation of their reporting and speech—all as a direct result of [the State Department’s] unlawful censorship scheme."

Meanwhile, America First Legal, headed up by Stephen Miller, President-elect Trump’s pick for deputy chief of staff for policy, revealed that the GEC used taxpayer dollars to create a video game called "Cat Park" to "Inoculate Youth Against Disinformation" abroad. 

The game "inoculates players … by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracy theories and incite real-world violence," according to a memo obtained by America First Legal. 

Mike Benz, the executive director at the Foundation For Freedom Online, said the game was "anti-populist" and pushed certain political beliefs instead of protecting Americans from foreign disinformation, per the Tennessee Star.

A State Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending legislation when asked for comment by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the GEC for comment on its potential refunding but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Nikolas Lanum and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

The popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson says it is still being kept in the dark after its Facebook account was suddenly suspended last month.

Though the account has since been reinstated, a representative for the company told Fox News Digital that "despite multiple attempts to reach Facebook to discuss the matter, to date we have not had direct communications with any of their staff members."

The gun company, which is headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, said staff suddenly received a notification from Facebook on Nov. 22 stating that their official Smith & Wesson account had been "suspended indefinitely."

"No warnings of a page suspension were previously communicated by Facebook," said the representative.

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The representative said Facebook referenced five posts dating back to December 2023 that they "suggest did not follow their community guidelines."

"The posts in question included consumer promotional campaigns, charitable auctions, and product release announcements," the Smith & Wesson representative explained. "While Facebook’s policies are ever-changing, which creates a burden for users to comply with, we do not believe this content violated any of Facebook’s policies or community guidelines, and similar posts have been published in the past without issue."  

Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives. However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.

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According to the representative, the page was reinstated on Nov. 27 after the gun manufacturer made a public statement about the incident on X.

In the post, which has 3.1 million views, Smith & Wesson criticized Facebook and thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments. The company encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to "seek out platforms" that represent the "shared values" of free speech and the right to bear arms.

Despite the page eventually being reinstated, the representative told Fox News Digital that the company has still had no contact with Meta and "no rationale was given for the reinstatement beyond a comment on social media from a Facebook representative stating that the suspension had been ‘in error.’"

That same Meta staffer, Andy Stone, also directed Fox News Digital to the X post positing that Smith & Wesson’s suspension was an accident. In the post, Stone said "the page was suspended in error and we’ve now restored it. We apologize that this happened."

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Through it all, the Smith & Wesson representative said the manufacturer is "grateful to Elon Musk for having created a public square platform that respects the right for Americans to voice their opinions, ALL opinions, and not just those that coincide with one agenda or another – especially as it relates to our constitutional rights guaranteed under the 1st and 2nd Amendments."

The spokesperson said that since their account was suspended, they have become aware that many other social media users have been similarly silenced and de-platformed.

"While we were encouraged by the reinstatement of our account, we were similarly disappointed by the number of other users reacting to our statement on X that commented that they have had very similar experiences with their accounts being de-platformed without warning," said the representative. "While we obviously do not know the details of those instances, we encourage Meta to continue working towards a more inclusive platform which allows the freedom for respectful dialogue from all viewpoints, which is a hallmark of American society."

Founded in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1852, Smith & Wesson is one of the most recognized gun brands in America and reported $535.8 million in sales in the 2024 fiscal year.

After its Facebook account was suspended, the popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments.

Andy Stone, a representative for Facebook's parent company, Meta, told Fox News Digital that the account had been suspended in error and that it has since been restored. 

In a Friday post on X, however, Smith & Wesson emphasized the importance of Musk's stance on free speech, criticizing Meta for suspending their account after the platform flagged several of its posts for promoting the sale of weapons.

Founded in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, today Smith & Wesson is based in Maryville, Tennessee, and is one of the most recognized gun brands in America, reporting $535.8 million in sales in the 2024 fiscal year.

Smith & Wesson said that "despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation."

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The manufacturer shared a screenshot of the suspension notice it had received from Facebook in which the platform said several posts dated Nov. 22, 13 and July 18 violated the rules on promoting weapons.

Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives. However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.

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Although its account has since been reinstated, Smith & Wesson encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to "seek out platforms" that represent the "shared values" of free speech and the right to bear arms.

"In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments," said Smith & Wesson.

Musk responded to the post by saying, "[we] believe in the Constitution." He also pointed out that X had resumed allowing users to post the gun emoji after it was replaced by a water gun by Twitter in 2018. 

The National Association for Gun Rights, which is a Second Amendment advocacy group with over 4.5 million activists, also chimed in, saying, "Thank you for giving us a place to shelter in this storm of Constitution-hating companies."

In a separate post, the association called X one of the last holdouts for free speech and gun rights.

"It is becoming clear that X is one of the last major bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media," said the group, adding, "the noose is slowly tightening everywhere else, seeking to squeeze us out entirely."

This article was edited to reflect new information from Meta about the Smith & Wesson account being suspended in error.

The conservative satire outlet the Babylon Bee is calling out X’s rival platform Bluesky for repeatedly censoring its posts and arbitrarily labeling them "intolerance."

Babylon Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann told Fox News Digital that Bluesky’s decision to censor their content is a "chilling reminder" of what the social media landscape would look like if Elon Musk had not bought Twitter.

The Babylon Bee was suspended from Twitter in 2022 for posting a satirical article calling Adm. Rachel Levine, a Biden administration Cabinet member and a transgender woman, the "man of the year."

Twitter flagged the post as violating its rules regarding "hateful conduct" and suspended the Babylon Bee’s account until they deleted their tweet, which the outlet refused to do. The Babylon Bee’s account remained suspended by Twitter until Musk reinstated it after he gained control.

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Now, two years later, the Babylon Bee is facing a similar dilemma on Bluesky, which was created by Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey and is widely seen as a direct competitor to X.

Bluesky has a similar layout to X but operates on an "authenticated transfer protocol" that creators say allows users more control over what content they access than platforms that operate on a single algorithm.

Bluesky’s website states that "our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see" and "on an open social network like Bluesky, you can shape your experience for yourself."

The platform has seen a significant increase in users in the last several weeks, with 8 million people, many of whom are former X users, joining since Election Day. There are currently 22 million users on Bluesky, which is still considerably lower than X’s user base of over 500 million.

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The Babylon Bee made its first post on Bluesky on Nov. 18. It posted the same Rachel Levine article that had gotten them suspended in 2022. The post was quickly flagged and hidden by Bluesky’s moderation service, which labeled it "intolerance." Users can still see the post by clicking past the intolerance label.

The satire site’s creators have now tried reposting the article four times, with each attempt having a similar result.

According to Bluesky’s community guidelines, the platform bans "gender identity-based harassment" and anything "promoting hate or extremist conduct that targets people or groups based on their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation."

Mann, however, said that "it's ironic that the platform championing tolerance and freedom from Musk's influence is itself so intolerant of differing views."

He explained that the outlet "thought it was only fitting to debut the Bee's account on Bluesky with the article that famously got us banned from Twitter" and that the result highlights the need for Musk’s prioritization of free speech on X.

"Bluesky's censorship policies are eerily reminiscent of the status quo on Twitter before Elon Musk took over," he said. "It's chilling to think about what freedom of speech might look like right now in the United States if Musk hadn't stepped up and freed us from the Twitter tyrants."