U.S. ends international push to combat fake news from hostile states
The U.S. State Department has terminated a memoranda of understanding with European countries to combat disinformation efforts by adversaries. Photo by Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Financial Times
The United States has informed countries in Europe that it is stepping back from joint efforts to combat disinformation from countries such as Russia, China and Iran, according to three European officials familiar with the matter.
European countries received a notice from the State Department last week that the U.S. is terminating memoranda of understanding that were signed last year under the Biden administration, which sought to forge a unified approach to identifying and exposing malicious information spread by foreign governments seeking to sow chaos.
The move comes as the Trump administration has dismantled agencies across the government that sought to protect the integrity of U.S. elections and to combat foreign malign influence at home and abroad.
The memoranda were part of an initiative spearheaded by the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department agency that tackled disinformation spread overseas by US adversaries and terror groups.
James Rubin, who served as head of the centre until December, described the move as a “unilateral act of disarmament” in the information war with Russia and China.
“Information warfare is a reality of our time and artificial intelligence is only going to multiply the risks from that,” Rubin said.
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