The State Department's controversial Global Engagement Center (GEC) was shut down this week after members of Congress voted not to reauthorize it in a spending bill to keep the government functioning. .
“The Global Engagement Center has closed on December 23, 2024,” a message on the agency's website said.
The GEC comes after journalist Matt Taibbi uncovered evidence that the coronavirus was pressuring U.S. social media platforms to censor Americans online during the early days of the pandemic. It drew condemnation from House Republicans. The purpose is said to be to counter “false information” such as the theory that the virus was leaked from the Internet. Research Institute in China.
“Formal regulations for Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies to accept ‘requests’ for moderation from all corners of government, including the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, state Global Engagement Centers, and even the CIA.” ” Taibbi testified before Congress in March 2023, shortly after his “Twitter files” were exposed at the GEC.
later Washington Examiner not covered In 2021 and 2022, GEC will make a $100,000 grant to London-based media watchdog nonprofit Global Disinformation Index (GDI) to support 10 news organizations, including The Post. will be considered a provider of “false information.”
Several Republican members of Congress have argued that the GEC's efforts to censor Americans are going far beyond its stated mission to “aggressively combat efforts by foreign adversaries to undermine U.S. interests through disinformation and propaganda.” He claimed that it exceeded.
“This is an organization that is funded to censor conservatives,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) said of the GEC during debate on a spending bill last week. “We shouldn't be doing this.”
Elon Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 over concerns about free speech, described GEC as “the worst offender of U.S. government censorship and media manipulation.”
Founded in 2016, GEC had a budget of approximately $61 million and a staff of 120 people.
