US agency to combat foreign disinformation shuts down after funding cut

The US State Department said Tuesday that an agency that tracks foreign disinformation has ended its operations after Congress revoked its funding and years of sustained Republican criticism.

The Global Engagement Center, founded in 2016, closed its doors on Monday despite experts warning of the danger of disinformation campaigns by US adversaries such as Russia and China.

When asked about the fate of the center’s employees and ongoing projects after the closure, the State Department said in a statement that it was consulting with Congress on next steps.

The Global Engagement Center had an annual budget of $61 million and a staff of about 120.

Its closure leaves the State Department without a dedicated tool to track and combat disinformation from US rivals.

The extension of funding for the center was removed from the final version of the federal spending bill passed by Congress last week.

The center has long faced scrutiny from Republican members of Congress who have accused it of censoring Americans.

Elon Musk also strongly criticized the center in 2023, accusing it of being the worst in US government censorship and a threat to our democracy.

The center’s directors responded to these views by stressing the importance of combating foreign propaganda campaigns.

Musk vetoed the original budget bill that would have maintained funding for the Global Engagement Center without specifically mentioning it.

The billionaire is an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump and has been tapped to run the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOG), which is tasked with cutting government spending.

In June, Global Engagement Center coordinator James Rubin announced the launch of a multinational group based in Warsaw to counter Russian disinformation about the war in neighboring Ukraine.

The initiative, known as the Ukrainian Engagement Group, will bring together partner governments to promote accuracy in reporting on the war and expose the Kremlin’s manipulation of information, the State Department said.

In a report last year, the Ukrainian Communications Group warned that China was spending billions of dollars globally to spread disinformation that threatened freedom of expression around the world.