The Trump administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio shut down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference hub to restore American free speech.
The Manipulation and Interference office costs taxpayers over $50 million annually while allegedly censoring conservative Americans.
This decisive action fulfills President Trump’s promise to protect First Amendment rights against government overreach.
The closure of the State Department’s last remaining disinformation monitoring office marks a significant victory for free speech advocates who have long criticized the federal government’s role in determining what constitutes “misinformation.”
The office, previously known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC), officially ceased operations on December 23, 2024, after Republicans blocked its budget reauthorization.
Secretary Rubio justified the decision by highlighting the office’s exorbitant cost and its alleged mission creep into policing domestic speech.
“Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions. That ends today,” Rubio stated.
“Cost taxpayers more than $50m per year and actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” he continued.
The Trump administration’s executive order on “countering censorship and restoring freedom of speech” criticized previous government efforts to combat so-called misinformation as thinly veiled attempts to suppress conservative viewpoints.
Acting undersecretary Darren Beattie informed approximately 40 staff members of the office’s closure, implementing the administration’s commitment to dismantling what many conservatives view as the “censorship industrial complex.”
Critics of the decision, primarily Democrats and former Obama-era officials, claim the move weakens America’s ability to counter foreign disinformation campaigns from adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen condemned the closure, while former GEC head James Rubin called it “unilateral disarmament.”
However, defenders of the move argue that the best defense against foreign disinformation is not government censorship but rather a robust commitment to free speech principles.
Secretary Rubio has consistently maintained that the most effective counter to misleading information is “a flood of free speech” rather than government entities deciding what Americans can and cannot say.
The GEC had drawn particular criticism for identifying domestic websites and social media accounts it claimed were amplifying misinformation, especially regarding the Russia-Ukraine war.
Many conservatives viewed this as overreach that targeted legitimate political discourse rather than actual foreign interference.
Moreover, the Trump administration’s approach represents a fundamental shift in how America confronts information warfare.
Rather than empowering bureaucrats to label certain viewpoints as “disinformation,” the new strategy emphasizes protecting Americans’ constitutional right to free expression without government interference or intimidation.
This closure aligns with President Trump’s broader efforts to reduce government overreach and restore Americans’ trust in their ability to discern truth without federal oversight.
For many patriotic Americans who felt silenced during previous administrations, this move represents a welcome return to core constitutional values and a rejection of the creeping censorship that threatened to undermine America’s founding principles.
