The Department of Homeland Security is seeking contractors for the creation of a database that would monitor news outlets around the world and collect information on journalists, bloggers and “media influencers.”
The plan comes amid concerns of so-called “fake news” and its effect on U.S. elections, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
A DHS solicitation for bids on the project appears on the website FedBizOpps.gov. Prospective contractors are invited to contact two DHS staffers, whose email addresses appear in the post.
DHS spokesman Todd Houlton tweeted Friday that despite what some reporters may suggest, the solicitation is nothing more than the standard practice of monitoring current events in the media.
“Any suggestion otherwise is fit for tin foil hat wearing, black helicopter conspiracy theorists,” he said. – READ MORE
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