MAGA’s Imaginary Censorship-Industrial Complex
This article examines the Trump administration's investigation into a alleged 'censorship-industrial complex' involving government officials and researchers. The author argues that despite extensive efforts to find evidence of a plot to suppress conservative speech, no proof has been uncovered.
Why it matters
It highlights the ongoing political tension regarding government oversight of social media and the impact of conspiracy theories on public policy and research.
The conspiracy theory that persists even though no evidence supports it
Illustration by Alisa Gao / The Atlantic. Sources: Connect Images / Getty; PM Images / Getty. September 2, 2026, 1:49 PM ET Share Save F or nearly a year and a half, the Trump administration prepared its case. Political appointees inside the State Department combed through old files and databases. Civil servants received notice that their personal emails would be examined. Darren Beattie—the founder of a far-right conspiracist website, then the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy—sent out a request for files on anyone who had communicated with or written about the Global Engagement Center, a now-dissolved agency that once worked to expose propaganda campaigns by Russia, China, Iran, and other countries around the world.
Read: The white nationalist in charge of Trump’s public diplomacy
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