特朗普政府正在将一项源自极右翼网络社群的阴谋论转化为具体政策行动。[1]这一名为"审查-工业复合体"(CIC)的论调声称政府机构、科技公司和非营利组织合谋压制保守派声音，已成为特朗普政府关闭多个联邦机构的理由。[1]2025年4月，特朗普政府以此名义关闭了国务院反外国信息操纵和干扰中心(R/FIMI)，将其称为"政府主办的审查制度"。[1]
这一观点的传播过程始于社交媒体和右翼媒体的推动。[1]关键推手迈克·本茨自2022年12月以来在X平台上发布了440多条关于"审查工业"或"审查-工业复合体"的内容，远超其他倡导者。[1]2023年2月，《联邦主义者》发表题为《特朗普症候群如何催生审查-工业复合体》的文章，随后被168个账户大规模分享，标志着该论调的扩散。[1]同年3月，Shellenberger和Taibbi在国会就"Twitter Files"作证，其推文获得2700万次浏览，推动了论调的病毒式传播。[1]
本茨通过他创办的在线自由基金会(FFO)发布报告，将USAID和媒体识字教育项目Cat Park等指控为审查工具，最终导致2024年底国会投票撤销国务院全球参与中心(GEC)的资金。[1]特朗普政府随后将这一叙事推向国际舞台：2025年2月，副总统万斯要求国务院收集欧洲言论审查证据，但仅找到10多起与暴力极端主义相关的内容删除案例。[1]尽管证据有限，特朗普政府仍以欧盟数字服务法(DSA)为由威胁欧洲实施报复性关税，并对5名欧洲内容审核倡导者实施入境禁令。[1]
本茨目前被任命为国务院特别政府员工调查USAID问题。[1]
The Trump administration has moved to dismantle federal institutions and pursue aggressive international policies based on a conspiracy narrative that originated in far-right online spaces. In April 2025, the State Department shut down the Rapid Response Media and Information Facility (R/FIMI), characterizing it as "government-sponsored censorship," a characterization rooted in the "Censorship Industrial Complex" (CIC) theory that alleges collusion between government agencies, technology companies, and nonprofits to silence conservative voices [1].
The CIC narrative's trajectory from online fringe to official policy reveals how extremist ideas can penetrate mainstream politics. Mike Betz, a key proponent, has posted over 440 messages about the "censorship industry" or "censorship-industrial complex" on X since December 2022, more than any other promoter of the idea [1]. A February 2023 article in The Federalist titled "How Trump Derangement Syndrome Created the Censorship-Industrial Complex" became the first widely amplified piece on the subject, shared by 168 accounts [1]. The narrative accelerated after March 2023, when Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi testified before Congress about the "Twitter Files," with their posts generating 27 million views [1].
Through the Foundation for Freedom Online, Betz published reports naming organizations including USAID as censorship tools, ultimately leading to a congressional vote in late 2024 to defund the GEC [1]. In February 2025, Vice President Vance directed the State Department to gather evidence of European censorship but found only a dozen cases involving content removals related to violent extremism [1]. Despite this limited evidence, the Trump administration has threatened retaliatory tariffs against the European Union over its Digital Services Act and imposed entry bans on five European content moderation advocates [1]. Betz now serves as a special government employee investigating USAID issues at the State Department [1].
