Washington (EFE).- United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday shut down the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which he said was being used for censorship by the Joe Biden (2022-2025) administration.
The Global Engagement Center was created in 2016 during the Barack Obama administration (2009-2017) to combat harmful foreign propaganda, and its functions were later expanded to counter disinformation from US rivals such as Russia, China or Iran.
“Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than 50 million dollars per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” Rubio said in a statement.
The top US diplomat went on to say that “over the last decade though, individuals in America have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions.”
Rubio pledged that the incoming Donald Trump administration would always work “to protect the rights of the American people,” such as freedom of expression, and noted that the closure of the Center for Global Engagement is “an important step in continuing to fulfill that commitment.”
The Trump Administration claims to defend freedom of speech.
In February, US Vice President JD Vance made a controversial speech in Munich in which he accused European countries of censoring conservative ideas.
Meanwhile, the State Department has revoked hundreds of visas of foreign students in the US who demonstrated in favor of Palestine and whom it accuses of supporting “terrorism.” EFE
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