Florida CFO Bans Left-Wing Propagandist NewsGuard From Receiving State Financial Contracts

SUMMARY

Florida's Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Patronis, issued a directive on Wednesday banning state financial service contracts with media-monitoring services like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI). Patronis criticized these groups for their credibility ratings, which he claims are based on political biases rather than factual accuracy, amounting to censorship. He argued that such ratings have been used to unfairly target conservative content with misinformation labels. The directive aims to prevent taxpayer money from funding what Patronis sees as biased censorship efforts, which he likened to social credit scores that lead to deplatforming and debanking. Although Patronis's attempt to extend this ban statewide failed in the last legislative session, he hopes his agency's action will prompt broader legislative attention and reform.