US State Dept Closes Office Flagging Russia, China Disinformation

The US State Department has closed down its office that sought to deal with the misinformation and disinformation campaigns from Russia, China and Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Wednesday that he had closed what had been known as the Global Engagement Centre.

Rubio defended the closure in his statement, alleging it had had taken actions to restrict freedom of speech in the United States and elsewhere.

Free speech?

The Associated Press however noted that the Global Engagement Centre was frequently criticised by US conservatives for calling out media and online reports it said were biased or untruthful.

The Associated Press also added that the Global Engagement Centre had also previously identified US websites and social media accounts that it alleged were amplifying misinformation, particularly related to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Freedom of speech and expression have been a cornerstone of what it means to be an American citizen,” Rubio said in his statement about the closure of the unit responsible for tackling the propaganda from hostile nations.

“It is the responsibility of every government official to continuously work to preserve and protect the freedom for Americans to exercise their free speech,” he said. “That is why today I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC).”

“Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” he claimed. “This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America.”

“That ends today,” he said. “Under the administration of President Trump, we will always work to protect the rights of the American people, and this is an important step in continuing to fulfil that commitment.”

“Deeply misleading”

The Associated Press noted that the US Congress had supported the centre’s work, as had previous State Department leadership.

Meanwhile former State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) that Marco Rubio’s portrayal of the centre was “deeply misleading.”

“This is a deeply misleading & unserious portrayal of an organisation focused on identifying foreign – primarily Russian – disinformation ops,” Price tweeted.

“Equally unseriously, this Administration can’t quite figure out ‘principal’ vs ‘principle.’ It’s almost like they have no principles.”