After the 2016 election and Brexit, NATO and Western governments launched a consensus-building initiative to address misinformation through a Whole Society Counter Misinformation Coalition. While creating this coalition, they were conscious of the parallels with censorship tactics used by Russia and China, which face their own challenges from domestic populism. The Western approach was characterized by a desire to manage public discourse without appearing authoritarian, leading to a critical consideration of the legitimacy of suppressing populism. Ultimately, it raises the troubling question of whether it is justifiable for those in power to limit the expression of populist movements.