If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Again with the “disinformation tsars” – as if the attempt in the US to establish such a thing in the shape of the failed Disinformation Governance Board has taught them nothing, now politicians in the UK want to try their hand at it. Leading the charge is Scottish MP Owen Thompson, who is on the parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). And truthfully, where better to try to set up a “Ministry of Truth” than in the UK. The idea, after all, originated there – albeit in a work of fiction. Some will say that claims the disinformation allegedly disseminated by the country’s own MPS is as big a threat to national security as Russia is also a work of fiction – but others, particularly in the obliging media, will no doubt dutifully agree. The arguments in favor of creating a “truth tsar” (British English for “disinformation tsar”) has all the expected ingredients: even more forceful crackdowns on social platforms, and keeping MPs in line by exposing them to “fact-checking” and when need be, meting out punishment, but also forcing them to correct their statements that the “tsar” decides are not true. Thompson’s hawkish attitude includes claiming that the infamous Online Safety Bill is not enough to combat disinformation – but he doesn’t think that this kind of policy is an “existential” threat to democracy. No, it’s “disinformation,” the MP is convinced. Thompson blames…Ministry of Truth: Owen Thompson, Scottish MP, Calls For a UK “Truth Tsar” That Cracks Down On Social Media Platforms