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| Trump administration shutters US office countering foreign disinformation | Trump administration shutters US office countering foreign disinformation |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| State department’s R/Fimi hub closed after rightwing critics allege it censored conservative American speech | |
| The Trump administration is shuttering the state department’s last remaining bastion to monitor foreign disinformation campaigns. | The Trump administration is shuttering the state department’s last remaining bastion to monitor foreign disinformation campaigns. |
| Known as the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/Fimi) hub, the closure represents a huge victory for rightwing critics who had alleged that the office, despite only looking at foreign state-level disinformation attacks on other countries, was involved in censoring American conservative speech. It comes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle what it describes as government overreach in monitoring speech. | Known as the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/Fimi) hub, the closure represents a huge victory for rightwing critics who had alleged that the office, despite only looking at foreign state-level disinformation attacks on other countries, was involved in censoring American conservative speech. It comes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle what it describes as government overreach in monitoring speech. |
| “Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions,” the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, posted on X on Wednesday. “That ends today.” | “Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions,” the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, posted on X on Wednesday. “That ends today.” |
| The move follows an executive order on “countering censorship and restoring freedom of speech” that characterizes previous efforts against misinformation as government infringement on constitutionally protected speech rights. | |
| Rubio – who said in his own confirmation hearing that countering Chinese disinformation was critical – disparaged the office, formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC), saying it “cost taxpayers more than $50m per year and actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving”. | Rubio – who said in his own confirmation hearing that countering Chinese disinformation was critical – disparaged the office, formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC), saying it “cost taxpayers more than $50m per year and actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving”. |
| The elimination of R/Fimi leaves the state department without any dedicated resources to counter increasingly sophisticated government disinformation campaigns. Russia reportedly spends approximately $1.5bn annually on foreign influence operations, Iran’s primary propaganda arm had a $1.26bn budget in 2022, and China invests “billions of dollars annually”, according to GEC estimates. | |
| Jeanne Shaheen, Senate foreign relations committee ranking member, condemned the shuttering, telling the Guardian in part that “Moscow and Beijing celebrate each time this administration dismantles another critical foreign policy tool”. | |
| “The president is completely ceding the global information space to our adversaries, who are only too happy to fill the void with anti-American propaganda,” Shaheen said. | |
| James Rubin, former special envoy and coordinator for the Global Engagement Center, said that the decision leaves the US vulnerable to foreign influence operations: “This is the functional equivalent of unilateral disarmament. If we remove our defenses against Russian and Chinese information warfare, it’s just to their advantage. That’s called unilateral disarmament.” | |
| Rubin, during his tenure as the last head of the GEC, spent considerable time on Capitol Hill talking with Republican skeptics about the office’s foreign-only mandate, ultimately to no avail. | Rubin, during his tenure as the last head of the GEC, spent considerable time on Capitol Hill talking with Republican skeptics about the office’s foreign-only mandate, ultimately to no avail. |
| Acting undersecretary Darren Beattie reportedly informed staff that the office would be eliminated and all positions terminated. The approximately 40 employees will be placed on administrative leave and dismissed within 30 days, state department sources told MIT Technology Review. | Acting undersecretary Darren Beattie reportedly informed staff that the office would be eliminated and all positions terminated. The approximately 40 employees will be placed on administrative leave and dismissed within 30 days, state department sources told MIT Technology Review. |
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| R/Fimi became the successor to the GEC, an Obama-era office that was defunded in December after Republicans in Congress blocked the reauthorization of its $61m budget. | |
| During its existence, the GEC had developed AI models to detect deepfakes, exposed Russian propaganda efforts targeting Latin American public opinion on the Ukraine conflict, and published reports on Russian and Chinese disinformation operations. One of its most notable successes was exposing the Kremlin-backed “African initiative”, a plan to undermine US influence across Africa by spreading conspiracy theories about US-funded health programs. | During its existence, the GEC had developed AI models to detect deepfakes, exposed Russian propaganda efforts targeting Latin American public opinion on the Ukraine conflict, and published reports on Russian and Chinese disinformation operations. One of its most notable successes was exposing the Kremlin-backed “African initiative”, a plan to undermine US influence across Africa by spreading conspiracy theories about US-funded health programs. |
| In September 2024, the justice department indicted two employees of RT, a Russian state-owned media outlet, after a scheme was unveiled that it had been operating a vast military procurement network supplying Russian forces in Ukraine through online crowdfunding platforms. | In September 2024, the justice department indicted two employees of RT, a Russian state-owned media outlet, after a scheme was unveiled that it had been operating a vast military procurement network supplying Russian forces in Ukraine through online crowdfunding platforms. |
| Beattie, who is overseeing the closure, brings his own controversy to the role: he had been fired as a speechwriter during Trump’s first administration for attending a white nationalist conference and promoted theories suggesting FBI involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. | Beattie, who is overseeing the closure, brings his own controversy to the role: he had been fired as a speechwriter during Trump’s first administration for attending a white nationalist conference and promoted theories suggesting FBI involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. |