The U.S. State Department’s office dedicated to tracking and exposing foreign disinformation is set to close after lawmakers decided not to extend its funding in the latest defense budget. This decision comes as a major setback in the U.S. government’s efforts to combat false information spread by foreign governments.
The Global Engagement Center’s (GEC) Role
The office responsible for fighting foreign disinformation is called the Global Engagement Center (GEC). It was created to monitor and counter misinformation coming from countries like Russia and China. These countries have been accused of spreading false information to influence elections and create political unrest in democratic nations such as Taiwan, Moldova, and Romania.
For the past several years, the GEC has played a critical role in identifying these false narratives and working to stop them. The office employed around 120 staff members and had a budget of $61 million. It was one of the main tools for the U.S. to fight back against foreign influence campaigns.
However, the center’s authority to operate was not renewed after lawmakers in Congress did not include the necessary funding in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2024. The NDAA is an annual bill that sets the budget for the Department of Defense and related agencies. Without the reauthorization, the GEC will shut down by the end of the day on December 23, 2024.
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The Push for an Extension
The State Department had pushed for an extension of the GEC’s funding, even suggesting that its authority should be extended until 2031. Despite these efforts, the proposal was removed from the final version of the NDAA, meaning that the GEC will no longer operate after December.
The GEC’s closure means that for the first time since 2016, the U.S. will not have a dedicated office to fight foreign disinformation abroad. This is especially troubling because disinformation campaigns are not just a U.S. issue, but one that affects many countries, particularly democracies. In recent years, foreign actors have used disinformation to spread lies and confuse voters, interfering in elections and other important events.
While the GEC did not focus on disinformation within the United States, it worked closely with other organizations to expose harmful foreign propaganda. The center’s shutdown raises concerns about how the U.S. will continue to address these threats in the future, especially as countries like Russia and China continue to target global democracies with disinformation.
Controversy and Criticism
The GEC was not without controversy. Some lawmakers and critics, including well-known figures, questioned the effectiveness of the center. They argued that the work it did might be redundant, given that other government agencies and private organizations also analyze disinformation. Some even accused the GEC of censorship or media manipulation, especially after the center collaborated with social media companies to monitor disinformation.
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Despite the criticism, many supporters of the GEC argue that its work was vital. They emphasized that the center was unique in how it approached disinformation, focusing on global threats rather than domestic issues. The GEC’s job was to track and understand how foreign actors used information to influence events around the world, helping to protect U.S. interests abroad.
One of the center’s biggest challenges was its limited budget, which made it difficult to acquire advanced technologies needed to improve its work. The GEC had hoped to get tools that could detect AI-generated fake media, including photoshopped images and videos manipulated using technologies like Stable Diffusion. Without these tools, the office’s ability to keep up with new tactics used by foreign governments to spread lies would have been greatly reduced.
The shutdown of the Global Engagement Center highlights a shift in the U.S. government’s approach to foreign disinformation. While the GEC worked hard to expose and fight against lies spread by foreign governments, its closure now leaves a gap in U.S. efforts to address this global issue.
