{"id":120512,"date":"2024-12-28T11:59:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T11:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-nerve-center-to-combat-china-and-russia-global-propaganda-shut-down-by-gop-opposition-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2024-12-28T11:59:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T11:59:31","slug":"us-nerve-center-to-combat-china-and-russia-global-propaganda-shut-down-by-gop-opposition-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-nerve-center-to-combat-china-and-russia-global-propaganda-shut-down-by-gop-opposition-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"US nerve center to combat China and Russia global propaganda shut down by GOP opposition – USA TODAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2212 The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, the highly touted nerve center for coordinating U.S. efforts to counter foreign disinformation \u2013 especially by Russia and China \u2013 shut down this week after becoming a lightning rod for conservative criticism.
The mission of the GEC, as it is commonly known, was to \u201cdirect, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate\u201d the U.S. campaign against propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security and stability of the U.S. and its allies.
But the GEC, with a relatively tiny $60 million budget and staff of 120, was first criticized in 2023 by Elon Musk<\/a>, the multibillionaire advisor to President-elect Donald Trump<\/a>, as the “worst offender<\/a> in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation.”
More:<\/strong>‘President-elect Musk’: Elon’s influence on display in government spending fight<\/a>
The GEC was initially included in a stopgap bill to fund the government past a Dec. 20 deadline<\/a>, but GOP lawmakers deleted it from a last-minute bill ultimately passed by Congress.
A State Department spokesperson said the GEC “will terminate by operation of law [by the end of the day] on December 23, 2024. The Department of State has consulted with Congress regarding next steps,” the AFP news agency reported.
The GEC evolved from the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, established by the Obama administration in 2011 to counter online extremist recruitment and propaganda. An Obama 2016 executive order created the GEC to broaden its mission to include fighting disinformation by state and non-state actors.
The\u00a0GEC soon began to focus primarily on using high-tech tools such as social media analytics to identify and counter disinformation campaigns by Moscow and Beijing that were increasingly targeting Washington and its allies. It sought to broaden its impact by working with other U.S. agencies, foreign allies and the private sector.
News from abroad, made sense for you: Sign up<\/a> for USA TODAY’s Russia-Ukraine Crisis newsletter.<\/em><\/strong>
A Sept. 28, 2023 report by the GEC called out China<\/a> for spending billions of dollars annually on foreign manipulation efforts. It detailed how Beijing employed \u201ca variety of deceptive and coercive methods as it attempts to influence the international information environment.\u201d
The report said China extensively pushed propaganda<\/a>, including through fake media and research papers “falsely blaming the United States for creating COVID-19.”
Those efforts falsely promoted China and the Chinese Communist Party’s “desired narratives on issues such as Taiwan, its human rights practices, the South China Sea, its domestic economy, and international economic engagement.\u201d
More broadly, the GEC report said, China sought to leverage propaganda, censorship and \u201cdigital authoritarianism\u201d to encourage foreign governments, journalists and civil society at large to accept its preferred narratives and avoid criticizing its conduct as it sought more influence on the global stage.
The GEC also has published numerous hard-hitting criticisms of Russia.
In 2020, the GEC has detailed how Russia spread conspiracy theories<\/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has called out the Kremlin for trying to sow chaos in U.S. And it has exposed Russian attempts to destabilize U.S. influence in Africa<\/a> by spreading false claims about U.S. health programs.
In September, it called out Moscow and its state-run media organization RT for using propaganda, disinformation \u2013 and sophisticated \u201ccyber capabilities\u201d<\/a> \u2013 to sway the global community on issues like its war against Ukraine.
More:<\/strong>Lara Trump, Kari Lake, other notable Republicans appeared on podcasts accused of Russia tie<\/a>
That effort by RT involved not only information operations but also covert influence and even military procurement efforts in targeting countries around the world, including in Europe, Africa, and North and South America, the GEC said in a Sept. 13 report.
\u201cWhen state or non-state actors spread disinformation, material deliberately meant to deceive or divide our public, they attack the very foundations of our free and open society,\u201d Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in releasing the report. He laid out specific steps the Biden administration was taking \u201cto hold accountable those who weaponize disinformation to undermine our democracy,\u201d including coordinated crackdowns by the State, Justice and Treasury departments<\/a>.
In January, the GEC spearheaded an agreement<\/a> to counter state-run disinformation campaigns that\u2019s now backed by at least 21 countries including Spain, Poland, Finland and the West African nation of Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire \u2013 and that could enable them to also create their own versions at home.
Funding for the GEC ran into congressional opposition in 2024 by Republican lawmakers who claimed it was overstepping its authority by trying to silence conservative voices<\/a> in the U.S. including pro-Trump influencers.
Three ranking House Republicans wrote Blinken in July<\/a> to accuse the GEC of straying from its statutory duty to counter propaganda and disinformation abroad.\u00a0
\u201cYour Department refuses to acknowledge that \u2026 any value the GEC provides is tempered by genuine concerns that the GEC is at best indifferent to, and at worst complicit in, an orchestrated and systematic effort to stretch the term \u2018disinformation\u2019 to encompass viewpoints that, among American progressives, are deemed to be politically disfavored or inconvenient\u2026\u201d\u00a0the lawmakers wrote.\u00a0
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who co-authored the 2016 legislation that established the center, said such criticisms were unwarranted and politically motivated. He led the effort to save it from GOP shutdown<\/a>, along with Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn. Former Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman is also a staunch supporter<\/a>.
\u201c[The GEC] has played an indispensable role in combating Russian and Chinese disinformation,\u201d Murphy said in October. \u201cIt would unnecessarily undermine U.S. national security<\/a> if we eliminated this tool.\u201d\u00a0
When Trump won a second term<\/a> on Nov. 5, Republicans also retained control of the House and retook the Senate.
The GEC tweeted its last<\/a> on Dec. 18, praising the European Union for its \u201cfirst-time use of designations under its Russia hybrid sanctions framework.\u201d
On Tuesday, the day before Christmas, the site went offline with this message: \u201cThis account is no longer in use as of 12\/23\/2024. For updates on the U.S. Department of State, please follow @StateDept<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2212 The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, the highly touted nerve center for coordinating U.S. efforts to counter foreign disinformation \u2013 especially by Russia and China \u2013 shut down this week after becoming a lightning rod for conservative criticism.The mission of the GEC, as it is commonly known, was to \u201cdirect, lead, synchronize, integrate, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}