Overview

• Nina Jankowicz, former head of the Disinformation Governance Board, testified before Congress, defending her record and the activities of organizations combating disinformation.
• She supported the State Department's funding of NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), stating their focus was countering Chinese propaganda, despite allegations of bias against conservative outlets.
• Critics questioned the transparency of the American Sunlight Project, Jankowicz's nonprofit, as she refused to disclose its funding sources, citing donor privacy concerns.
• Jankowicz maintained her dismissal of the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation, despite its later confirmation as authentic, drawing renewed scrutiny.
• The GDI, which Jankowicz defended, was criticized for labeling conservative and libertarian outlets as 'risky' and for initially dismissing the COVID-19 lab-leak theory, now deemed plausible by U.S. intelligence agencies.