R/Fimi, doesn't that mean anything to you? This office with the complicated name – Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference – was, however, the last bastion of the US State Department against foreign disinformation. But it will disappear, in the wake of an executive order signed by Donald Trump to "restore freedom of expression." The idea: stop monitoring influence campaigns from other countries... to avoid being accused to restrict the speech of Americans.
The enemies of the United States are delighted
This is in any case the argument of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who fired off a message on X (formerly Twitter): "Americans have been accused or even imprisoned just for giving their opinion. "That's enough."" According to him, this office was expensive ($50 million per year) and would have mainly served to "censor American voices." A somewhat paradoxical statement, since during his own appearance before the Senate, Rubio insisted on the importance of countering Chinese propaganda...
As for experts, this closure is not going down well. James Rubin, the former head of the office (when it was still called the Global Engagement Center), doesn't mince his words: "It's like unilateral disarmament. We lower our defenses, they benefit."
And the figures are a bit dizzying. Russia reportedly spends $1.5 billion a year on its influence campaigns. Iran spends over a billion. As for China, it would put even more on the table. Meanwhile, the United States is cutting its only official tool to respond to these digital offensives.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen denounces a pure and simple abandonment: "The president is giving free rein to our adversaries to spread their propaganda." And this is not just a figment of the imagination: in recent years, the office had, for example, uncovered a Russian campaign in Latin America on the war in Ukraine, or an operation aimed at discrediting health programs Americans in Africa.
All this wasn't enough to convince. The office's budget had already been frozen by Congress at the end of 2024. One structure remained, R/Fimi, but it will close its doors within 30 days. The 40 employees will be dismissed.
The person responsible for this closure is Darren Beattie, a close associate of Trump who was fired during his first term after participating in a white nationalist conference. He is also known for having spread theories about FBI involvement in the attack on the Capitol. Not exactly the kind of profile you'd imagine on the front line against disinformation.
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