PATRICK TUCKER
A small office in the State Department tasked with monitoring foreign disinformation threats was shuttered Wednesday by the Trump administration, the latest in a series of steps the White House has taken since January to dismantle entities that monitor foreign influence and information campaigns, or respond to them. As that effort continues, experts say, the United States and audiences around the world could be left virtually defenseless against increasing Chinese and Russian efforts to turn global populations against the United States.
But that’s not how the administration sees it. “Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions. That ends today,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted to X Wednesday in an announcement about the closure of the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference hub, known as R/Fimi.
R/Fimi was a remnant of the Global Engagement Center, which was created in 2016 by the Obama administration to counter Russian disinformation efforts. Rubio said the GEC “actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” a claim that officials at the Global Engagement Center have denied and for which there is no evidence.
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