U.S. Retreats from Global Disinformation Effort
U.S. Retreats from Global Disinformation Effort
What Happened
The U.S. has withdrawn from international agreements designed to counter state-sponsored disinformation emanating from adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran. European partners were formally notified of the termination of these memoranda of understanding (MOUs), which were initially signed under the Biden administration to establish a coordinated response to manipulative information campaigns abroad.
Financial Times
How It Came to This
These MOUs were facilitated by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC)—a department tasked with identifying and countering foreign propaganda and election interference. The GEC, which also dealt with terrorism-related messaging threats, was dismantled after its congressional mandate was not renewed. Its successor, the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) office, was shut down by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier in 2025.
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Reactions & Consequences
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Security Experts Sound the Alarm: James Rubin, a former GEC director, characterized the step as a “unilateral act of disarmament,” warning that it undermines Western defenses in an age of escalating AI-powered information warfare.
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Supporters of the Closure: Trump administration officials, including Darren Beattie, argued the GEC was ineffective and had overstepped by suppressing free speech. Secretary Rubio echoed this sentiment, denouncing the agency for censorship and misallocation of funds.
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Wider Impact: The termination dismantles what was among the last institutional mechanisms the U.S. had to identify and expose disinformation targeting global democracies. With adversaries like Russia and China ramping up their influence operations, this strategic retreat leaves a growing vulnerability in the information space.
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