A cross-section of Oregonians sue the Oregon Governor, Secretary of State, and Elections Director over a violation of free speech in Thielman vs. Kotek filed in U.S. District Court of Oregon. The Secretary of State of Oregon is poised to launch an “Elections False Information Solution” contract with a UK-based artificial intelligence agency. The intent is to create a sophisticated citizen surveillance technology to “combat” and “disarm,” citizen speech about elections. This runs counter to the state’s official assertion that Oregon elections are “safe and secure.”

The Elections False Information Solution began last year as a test pilot. The Secretary of State issued a new requested for proposal (RFP) this year to officially launch the program. Its purpose is to surveil and collect citizen’s speech about elections and then the state will determine if it is mis/dis/mal information. The program describes this process as “threat detection.” The program will monitor social media platforms, websites, Oregon news sites, websites, podcasts, radio programs, videos on YouTube, and blogs.

In order for the new AI technology to surveil election speech, it must surveil all speech to determine if it is aimed at elections. As this AI technology surveilles election speech in public media, it will then create notifications and reporting of “threats” it detects. The Elections Division will share information it collects with partners such as the FBI, Oregon State Police, National Guard, Oregon TITAN Fusion Center, CISA, and the US Attorneys’ Office.

In addition, the AI media-sifting and reporting program will then create counter-narratives to “manage authoritative public information,” according to their program Solutions Requirements. These intimidating referrals to law enforcement and the state’s messaging efforts to discredit citizen views are some of the “countermeasures” they are using to “combat” citizen speech. Other countermeasures include violating citizens expressing their election views to social media platforms, and thus shadow banning, de-monetizing, and de-platforming ensues.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Through this initiative, the state of Oregon has appointed themselves as the arbiter of what constitutes mis/dis/mal information. Instead of allocating taxpayer money to improving Oregon’s election systems, the state has allocated citizen monies to surveillance, “fact checking,” and law enforcement referrals.

The plaintiff citizens of Oregon aim to receive a permanent injunction to this program. The complaint reads, "It is a bedrock principle of our constitutional system that the government does not get to decide what speech is acceptable or true. Under the First Amendment, Americans have a right to speak freely regardless of whether their speech upsets the preferred narrative. In fact, that's when it needs the most vigorous protection."

Chilling the speech of any citizen for any purpose is a violation of the First Amendment and thus a growing coalition of Oregonians are joining this case Thielman vs. Kotek. Plaintiffs include a cross-section of affected Oregonians, including state senators, candidates for office, businessmen and women, election integrity researchers, broadcasters, radio hosts, and political party leaders.

Plaintiffs have also filed a "preliminary injunction order prohibiting Defendants from surveiling and/or suppressing speech concerning alleged misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation. This includes an order halting any performance of work pursuant to the Secretary of State’s Office Request for Proposal titled “Election False Information Solution.”"

To help defend free speech, donations can be made to Joncus Law PC or Battleground Oregon.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-12-13 12:12:49

Last Update: 2023-12-13 13:45:49