The proposed “Charlie Kirk Act” would give the U.S. government sweeping new powers to decide what does and does not constitute propaganda and untruth and administer penalties accordingly.
An image of the Senate House of the University of London, where George Orwell worked during the war when it was the Ministry of Information. (Bastique/Wikimedia Commons/Edited from Original)
By Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter
Listen to Tim Foley reading this article
It’s probably worth flagging the fact that the president of the United States is promoting the establishment of a Ministry of Truth to restrict speech in a suggested law called the “Charlie Kirk Act.”
President Trump’s Truth Social account posted a viral video from TikTok on Saturday in which a Trump voter named Elly May blamed the assassination of Republican political operative Charlie Kirk on the press, urging the president to push for legislation which would make “news corporations accountable for lying to the American people and spreading propaganda instead of truth.”
May frames the idea as a revisitation of the Smith-Mundt Act, but then goes on to describe authoritarian measures which have nothing to do with Smith-Mundt.
“President Trump, as a supporter who voted for you 3 times, I am hoping and praying that you will revisit what Barack Obama and Joe Biden got rid of back in 2013, which is the Smith-Mundt Act, which held news corporations accountable for lying to the American people and spreading propaganda instead of truth,” May says, adding:.
“I think instead of bringing it back as a Smith-Mundt Act, you name it the Charlie Kirk Act, make it a law, and you make it damn near impossible for these people to continue to lie to the American public, which has brought chaos, hatred, division, and anarchy all across this country. Fines out their ass which will damn near bankrupt their companies should they lie to the American people ever again.”
“Because of their constant lies, a man lost his life, because of the constant hateful rhetoric of calling him a fascist, and a Nazi, and a white supremacist, and a bigot. I think this would be a great legacy for him to have a law named after him to force journalists to finally start telling the truth and having the integrity that they have lacked for over a decade.”
“We are on a dangerous path right now with the constant lies and the propaganda,” May says. “And that doesn’t end just at news journalists. It needs to go to content creators who consistently spread lies and propaganda and half-truths across the internet. This needs to end, and people need to start being held accountable for baseless claims over absolute abysmal things.”
“Get this in front of Congress, get this passed as a law, and start holding these news corporations—be they right, left or center—accountable for their behavior,” May concludes.
May has been promoting a Change.org petition to “Enact the Charlie Kirk Act to Restore Media Accountability,” which as of this writing has tens of thousands of signatures.
“This amended act will hold media outlets, radio stations, educators, and content creators accountable for the false narratives and erroneous information they spread deliberately or irresponsibly,” the petition reads, proposing heavy fines for those deemed to be in violation.
A couple of issues with this.
Firstly, the Smith-Mundt Act had nothing to do with holding “news corporations accountable for lying to the American people;” it was a Cold War-era law which prohibited official U.S. government propaganda created by institutions like the State Department and the USAGM [U.S. Agency for Global Media] from being disseminated domestically.
This law was controversially revised under the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 in the name of combatting Al Qaeda propaganda campaigns in the United States.
Returning Smith-Mundt to its original iteration would be a fine idea. American right wingers tend to make a much bigger deal about the changes made under the Obama administration than is actually warranted — anyone who remembers the lead-up to the Iraq invasion knows the U.S. government had no trouble getting immensely consequential propaganda circulating throughout the American press prior to 2013.
But anything that inhibits the U.S. government’s ability to disseminate propaganda to Americans might be somewhat helpful, and couldn’t hurt.
But that isn’t what this “Charlie Kirk Act” push is advocating. Smith-Mundt placed restrictions on what the U.S. government is allowed to do with regard to propaganda, while the proposed “Charlie Kirk Act” would give the U.S. government sweeping new powers to decide what does and does not constitute propaganda and untruth and administer penalties accordingly.
One limits the U.S. government’s ability to manipulate public information, while the other explicitly expands it. Nobody anywhere is claiming that propaganda generated by the U.S. State Department or USAGM projects like Voice of America got Charlie Kirk assassinated by calling him a Nazi; they’re talking about creating a new law to stomp out the free speech of “media outlets, radio stations, educators, and content creators.”
The other issue is of course that giving the government the authority to penalize propaganda and lies means giving the government the authority to determine what constitutes propaganda and lies.
They could decide it’s a lie to say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, for example, or that it’s propaganda to say the U.S. shouldn’t be waging a proxy war in Ukraine.
The “Charlie Kirk Act” is being pushed in the name of fighting propaganda, but it would actually be giving the U.S. government unprecedented authority over what Americans are permitted to say on any platform.
This could of course turn out to be nothing and fizzle right away, but when the president of the United States starts pushing for the establishment of a Ministry of Truth to determine what Americans are allowed to say, I think that’s worth drawing attention to.
I’m just amazed at the virality of this whole thing. The American right’s frenzied emotional hysteria about the murder of Charlie Kirk has them promoting an initiative that is not meaningfully different from the Ministry of Truth proposed under the Biden administration’s “Disinformation Governance Board,” which was aborted after massive public outcry from the right. And that was just three years ago.
I’ve said it many times before and I’ll surely say it many times again: when everyone’s emotions are running hot, that’s when it’s most important to be intensely skeptical of everything your government does.
We learned this lesson after 9/11, we were reminded again after Oct. 7, and we may very well be getting another lesson with the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from Caitlyn’s Newsletter and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Sounds just like the UK ‘online safety bill’. Another orwellian named law. the only safety it delivers is to the authors from the criticism of their subjects. Trump admonishes stammering Starmer on free speech while contemplating a similar approach. Starmer insists we have free speech. Technically correct, of course, with the usual weasel wording, you are not prevented from saying things, you may just get locked up afterward
Very soon foreign nations wouldbetargeted for spreading propaganda,hate- speech,and for not cancelling . Suddenly hate speech is a problem .
This has nothing whatsoever to do with controlling BigLie media, and everything to do with dictating what school teachers can say in their classrooms!
“Smith-Mundt placed restrictions on what the U.S. government is allowed to do with regard to propaganda, while the proposed “Charlie Kirk Act” would give the U.S. government sweeping new powers to decide what does and does not constitute propaganda and untruth and administer penalties accordingly.” We r close enough to a Fascist regime as it is, with Congress passing laws that forbid criticism of that state south of Lebanon, east of Jordan, and ICE empowered to question citizens who have to prove their ID. Any more and we’ll be a Germany, late 1930’s redux.
A 60-minute national broadcast will successfully defuse a ticking time bomb set to explode in tragic, unnecessary, senseless violence.
For the sake of restoring some semblance of calmness and sanity across America, those in charge of the law enforcement investigation of Charlie Kirk’s murder MUST overlook concern over creating a situation where assembling an unbiased jury becomes impossible.
The impossibility of assembling an unbiased jury will be the strongest objection from those who oppose making suspect Tyler Robinson’s filmed testimony – where Robinson tells his own version of events, coming directly out of Robinson’s own mouth – publicly available for ALL Americans to hear.
Filming and broadcasting Tyler Robinson’s unedited, approximate 60-120 minutes of responses to lingering questions, most importantly Robinson’s responses to evidence presented by law enforcement officials, will put a STOP to rampant nationwide speculations which are pitting good, decent Americans against good, decent Americans.
Failure to IMMEDIATELY present/make available suspect Tyler Robinson’s testimony to the American people perpetuates a clearly dangerous national condition where mentally-imbalanced people (regardless of political affiliation/ideology) will resort to extreme violence based on speculations, – in effect making those law enforcement officials who block/refuse to approve the broadcasting of Robinson’s testimony responsible for such acts of irrational, extreme violence.
This is why Americans MUST hear Kirk murder suspect Tyler Robinson’s testimony – now.
I wasn’t aware he’d said anything since his arrest. According to ABC News, “He only said his name during the hearing and showed no emotion as the charges were read.” If that’s correct, then your ‘Americans MUST hear Kirk murder suspect Tyler Robinson’s testimony – now’ means there must immediately be another court hearing in which he is compelled to speak. Is that what you’re saying, or have I missed something?
Hello Ian Perkins,
Thank you for commenting. The prime historical example with respect to Tyler Robinson is alleged JFK assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, whose only spoken words Americans will remember after Oswald was taken into custody were: “I’m a PATSY!!!”
There are three important reasons why Americans must hear directly from the mouth of Kirk murder suspect Tyler Robinson:
1.) To disprove or confirm that Tyler Robinson is an Oswald-style PATSY, in the process clarifying/identifying the truth for millions of people who have come to believe (rightly or wrongly) that Robinson is, indeed, a PATSY,
2.) Ending a dangerous societal situation inside America, – the situation growing more dangerous with each passing day of legal inconclusiveness – where citizens with divergent, strongly held views about the Kirk assassination may resort to tragic, unnecessary, senseless acts of violence based on entirely false assumptions, and
3.) The most important and obvious reason of all: Arriving at the TRUTH, most commonly known across America as achieving JUSTICE.
Chris Hedges and Max Blumenthal had a recent discussion about the fact that Charlie Kirk was recently speaking out against the genocide. He turned down funding from Nuttinyahoo and may have shot by Mossad and/or CIA. They’re using his murder to shut down dissent.
They’re using his murder to FURTHER shut down dissent. If he hadn’t been shot, they’d still be sticking the boot in.
Trump on Thursday (UK time):
‘”I have read some place that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily [in last year’s election],” the president said.
“They give me only bad publicity [and] press. I mean, they’re getting a licence. I would think maybe their licence should be taken away.”‘
bbc.com/news/articles/cr4qe0rz2zvo
Do you deny there is much truth in this about what is called the “mass media?”
If so study again what was reported and happened 1/6, the Russian collusion and in the George Floyd affair.
The GOP branch of the Oligarch Uniparty is ushering in a new phase of hard core social engineering. Contrary to the protestations of earlier generations of conservatives, who carried copies of Karl Popper’s The Open Society and its Enemies everywhere they went, the MAGA breed of conservatives yearn for a closed society, an authoritarian dystopia. They want Big Government and constricted civil liberties, and they aim to achieve them by contriving an endless series of emergencies.
I try to comfort myself by telling myself that the more fascist and repulsive the Oligarch Uniparty’s regime becomes, the shorter it will last. No such regimes have lasted long, because in the end the natives will get restless and find a way to bring it to an end.
We lie about everything our religion started with the biggest lies of the ages and the problems from it and the Roman empire that weaponize it for profit motives go on and on as profit motives for endless new wars and their consequences. The lies are embodied now as posted truths to worshiped even by secular societies as our rites to the world order..
Michael Hastings was silenced for uncovering the US army psyops on Senators on a fact finding mission . Under Smith-Mundt it was illegal. When Hastings exposed the farce, McCain said it was justified because it was for a worthy cause. Obama repealed the ban as part of the NDAA the following year. hxxps://web.archive.org/web/20110225054319/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223
3rd rate Batman villains have seized control. This is all mind boggling beyond belief
By any chance could this girl May,
be Mrs. O’brien, husband of
Winston Smith’s torturer?
Great image of the Orwell’s 1984 employment
CAITLIN (& readers): You may already be aware of this. If not, do check it out. It’s long and comprehensive and fully researched (with sources cited and noted).
Special Edition: Charlie Kirk’s Assassination, A Right-Wing Power Grab
Inside the propaganda machine that turned one death into political capital
Thomas Karat
Sep 13, 2025
Go to karat.substack.com
Caitlin Johnstone does a fine job and I wish I could trade email with her and the rest of the crew.
hxxp://www.caitlinjohnst.one
Whatever Trump says is true, and everything else is a lie.
On second thoughts, whatever Trump has most recently said is true, whatever he said before that appears to contradict it is fake news, and everything else is a lie.