The government cut the funding for the U.S. State Department's Global Engagement Center in December 2024, causing the center to close its doors and end its role at the forefront of combating foreign disinformation.
According to Fox News, The closure marks a significant shift in U.S. efforts to combat disinformation amid rising bipartisan criticisms.
The U.S. government founded the Global Engagement Center (GEC) in 2016 to address foreign-sponsored disinformation campaigns that threatened national security. With a budget of $61 million and 120 staff, the center collaborated extensively with other U.S. security and defense agencies.
Elon Musk, one of the GEC's vocal critics, charged the center with being a leading entity in "U.S. government censorship & media manipulation." Similarly, conservative lawmakers and various public figures echoed this sentiment, questioning the necessity of the GEC given the private sector's expertise in disinformation analysis.
Meanwhile, journalist Matt Taibbi also criticized the GEC, suggesting it funded secretive lists to blacklist certain entities and individuals during the pandemic. These allegations, which highlighted the GEC's contentious role, consequently prompted heightened scrutiny over its operations and purpose.
In response to these critiques, lawmakers excluded the GEC's budget from the continuing resolution (CR) during the revision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As a result, a State Department spokesperson confirmed, "The Global Engagement Center will terminate by operation of law [by the end of the day] on December 23, 2024," and added that the department is consulting with Congress regarding future steps.
Though the GEC initially focused on international disinformation threats, allegations surfaced that the center had overstepped its mandate. Critics claimed that it became involved in domestic monitoring and censorship, particularly regarding narratives around COVID-19 and its origins. This raised significant concerns over the infringement of First Amendment rights, ultimately leading to its defunding.
The GEC had been a key funder of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab). Graham Brookie from DFRLab defended their work, emphasizing an "exclusively international focus" contrary to claims of monitoring American citizens. Yet, the Republican-led committee report in 2024 painted a starkly different picture, condemning the GEC's impact on U.S.-based publishers and domestic misinformation monitoring.
A lawsuit escalated these concerns, with the Texas Attorney General's Office alleging that the GEC had "weaponized" its authority against the American press, violating constitutional rights to free speech and fostering a government-driven agenda to censor and financially harm media outlets.
Among the GEC's initiatives was the creation of "Cat Park," a video game aimed at educating youth abroad on the risks of disinformation. Mike Benz criticized the game for being "anti-populist" and pushing a political agenda under the guise of disinformation education. This was highlighted by America First Legal, describing the game as a tool that "inoculates players... by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracy theories and incite real-world violence."
The discontinuation of the GEC has sparked a broader conversation about the balance between countering disinformation and upholding free speech, as well as the roles government agencies should play in such endeavors.
As of now, the future of U.S. policy regarding the handling of disinformation remains uncertain, with the State Department and various stakeholders reassessing strategies in a rapidly changing digital and political landscape.
