In 2022, former President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of a Disinformation Governance Board. The Board was formed to counter misinformation that might threaten national security.

It didn’t take long for people to compare the new board to the propagandistic Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s dystopian classic, “1984.” Biden scrapped the idea a few months later.

Published 76 years ago, “1984” still resonates with readers. Orwell dramatized concerns about government power and even today offers relevant criticisms of elected leaders. Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board was not an aberration; every U.S. president of the last 30 years has triggered comparisons to Big Brother.

In President Donald Trump’s first term, the White House contested media

See Full Page