Skip next section Rubio says he’s shutting office aimed at disinformation to ‘champion’ free speech
04/17/2025April 17, 2025
Rubio says he’s shutting office aimed at disinformation to ‘champion’ free speech
The US State Department will close an office that played an important role in combating Russian and Chinese disinformation or false information that is meant to mislead people.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he was shutting down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) hub, accusing it of censoring conservative speech.
“Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions,” Marco Rubio posted to X. “That ends today.”
Rubio said the office cost US taxpayers over $50 million (roughly €43.8 million) annually and that it “spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.”
“This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America,” he added, without providing details about how the office silenced the voices of Americans.
The office was previously known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC) had already shut down in December 2024 under former Democratic President Joe Biden after Congress did not extend its mandate that was set to expire.
It was reorganized to create a different public diplomacy office known as R/FIMI.
The GEC had come under intense criticism from some Republicans who said it was straying from its mission, accusing it of disfavoring opinions by conservative media in particular.
https://p.dw.com/p/4tEUT
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage04/17/2025April 17, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
The Trump administration announced it was shutting down an office that aimed at countering foreign disinformation, accusing it of censorship.
This comes after the US president issued an executive order last month to shrink an independent federal agency that provided news outlets like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with funding.
Meanwhile, a US federal judge said there was “probable cause” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt of court for defying his order to halt deportations.
More follows on what to expect throughout the day.
https://p.dw.com/p/4tEUR
The post US: Trump officials shut down hub to counter disinformation appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
