Mike Benz

To my recollection, it's four years old.

To my recollection, it's four years old.

To my recollection, it's four years old.

They were afraid that social media, rising all these right-wing populist parties to power, would effectively collapse the entire rules-based international order unless there was international censorship. Because Brexit would give rise to Frexit if Marine Le Pen won, and she was massively overpowered on social media versus Macron.

They were afraid that social media, rising all these right-wing populist parties to power, would effectively collapse the entire rules-based international order unless there was international censorship. Because Brexit would give rise to Frexit if Marine Le Pen won, and she was massively overpowered on social media versus Macron.

If, you know, as I mentioned, Italy, Germany, there was going to be not just Brexit, there was going to be Frexit, Spexit, Italegxit, Grexit, Grexit.

If, you know, as I mentioned, Italy, Germany, there was going to be not just Brexit, there was going to be Frexit, Spexit, Italegxit, Grexit, Grexit.

So the entire EU would come undone, which would mean all of NATO would come undone, which would mean there's no enforcement arm for the IMF or the World Bank or international creditors, which would mean it would be like the ending scene of Fight Club, where the credit card company buildings all collapse just because you're allowed to post on the Internet.

So the entire EU would come undone, which would mean all of NATO would come undone, which would mean there's no enforcement arm for the IMF or the World Bank or international creditors, which would mean it would be like the ending scene of Fight Club, where the credit card company buildings all collapse just because you're allowed to post on the Internet.

And they talked about that quite openly in 2017 as they were creating this whole censorship infrastructure.

And they talked about that quite openly in 2017 as they were creating this whole censorship infrastructure.

I don't know if you ever pan it, but everyone who's watching this, you have to see this.

It's a museum here.

Only the guests get to see it.

Well, I think it was a natural continuation of the spirit of what I felt our federal government needed to do while I was in it, which was bring to light and try to educate people around what's really driving internet censorship, the forces behind it, the abuses of government.

The fact is, is several years ago, it was...

a sort of unsubstantiated thing in many people's minds that the US government was putting pressure on the tech platforms to censor speech, all these open First Amendment questions about it.

And I felt like there needed to be a venue to provide nonpartisan insights to educate people so that they had the language, they had the background, they had the stories, they had the ability to understand the world around them as it pertains to internet censorship.

Well, the story of what's happening in the UK and Brazil is very tightly connected to our own.

We'll get to this when we talk about some of the international issues happening right now.