US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirms the elimination of R/FIMI, an office aimed at tracking and countering foreign disinformation campaigns

The only office within the US State Department that monitors foreign disinformation is to be eliminated, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio …

MIT Technology Review 2025-04-17 Eileen Guo

Context & Ripple Effects

The move removes a dedicated State Department function focused on foreign influence operations. It follows an earlier precedent in which the Commerce Department closed a social-media disinformation-monitoring unit after concluding it had exceeded its authority.

Later coverage places the decision within a broader diplomatic reorientation: the US stepped back from joint counter-disinformation work with European partners while Rubio instructed diplomats to press Europe against the Digital Services Act.

First-order effects

The State Department loses a specialized office for tracking and countering foreign disinformation campaigns, concentrating responsibility—if it continues—elsewhere in the department.
R/FIMI’s overseas counterparts and partners lose a named US counterpart for this area of coordination.

Second-order effects

European governments and institutions working with the US on foreign-information threats must adjust joint channels and expectations as the US role narrows.
The elimination aligns with a policy posture that treats some platform-governance measures as speech restrictions, reinforcing pressure on European rules such as the DSA.

Third-order effects

If accompanied by further withdrawals from cooperative programs, US foreign-policy capacity on information integrity could shift from dedicated operational coordination toward a narrower free-speech and platform-policy agenda.
The pattern may deepen divergence between US and European approaches to online-risk governance, making cross-border coordination on influence campaigns more contingent and politically contested.

The trend: This is one data point in a broader US shift from institutionalized counter-disinformation efforts toward challenging platform and speech-governance interventions.

Discussion

@campuscodi.risky.biz Catalin Cimpanu on bluesky
Rubio claiming the GEC silenced and censored the voices of Americans is an outright lie — That office focused on Russia's progranda's networks in Africa and LATAM and their effect abroad — He either doesn't know how his own department works, or he's lying. Guess which? [embe…
@kateross Kate Ross on bluesky
🧵 “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work,” Darren Beattie, posted on X the month before the 2024 presidential election. — Undersecretary Beattie has announced the closure of the office that monitors foreign disinformation.
@ericjgeller.com Eric Geller on bluesky
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's shutting down State's Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub (previously the Global Engagement Center), which tracked foreign mis/disinfo. — Rubio falsely claimed the GEC silenced and censored Americans. — www.st…
@noupside Renee DiResta on bluesky
Yet another scalp here. We are gutting state capacity in response to paranoid fantasies of a “censorship industrial complex” that never existed. — It has been shown to be bullshit in both congressional inquests and SCOTUS cases. — And yet they keep lying... www.technologyre…
@jaylyall @jaylyall on bluesky
In a move sure to please the Kremlin, US office that counters foreign disinformation is being eliminated
@eileenguo Eileen Guo on bluesky
SCOOP: sources tell me that the State Dept plans to eliminate its only office to counter foreign disinformation, as soon as today, delivering a win to foreign governments like Russia, Iran, and China—and the office's mostly conservative critics. — www.technologyreview.com/2025/…
@secrubio Secretary Marco Rubio on x
The American people don't need an obscure agency to “protect” them from speech by silencing, censoring or banning them. Today, we are putting that to an end. The State Department will no longer be spending taxpayer dollars to censor Americans.
@secrubio Secretary Marco Rubio on x
Over the past half decade, our own governing ruling class nearly destroyed America's long free speech history. Today, we are putting that to an end. https://thefederalist.com/...
@secrubio Secretary Marco Rubio on x
Secretary Rubio's live conversation with @MikeBenzCyber on dismantling the censorship bureaucracy at the State Department https://x.com/...
@matthewfoldi Matthew Foldi on x
NEW: @SecRubio announces the “closure of the State Department's Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC). Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million
@reclaimthenethq @reclaimthenethq on x
The State Department's censorship shop is no more. Secretary Rubio has just eliminated all full-time staff and over 100 contractors at R/FIMI (formerly the Global Engagement Center) — the same agency whose actions silenced so many people, including many here on X. [image]
@ambkennedy_ret Laura Kennedy on x
This is Orwellian DoubleSpeak: in shutting down the former Global Engagement Center which was focused on countering foreign disinformation, the State Dept is not “Protecting Free Speech” but giving bad actors like Russia a pass to peddle lies & manipulate https://www.state.gov/..…
r/europe r on reddit
US shuts down office combating Russian disinformation, Rubio says
r/NoShitSherlock r on reddit
US shuts down office combating Russian disinformation, Rubio says
r/technology r on reddit
US shuts down office combating Russian disinformation, Rubio says
r/neoliberal r on reddit
The US office that counters foreign disinformation is being eliminated
r/politics r on reddit
The US office that counters foreign disinformation is being eliminated, say officials
r/fednews r on reddit
US office that counters foreign disinformation is being eliminated, say officials
r/TrueReddit r on reddit
US office that counters foreign disinformation is being eliminated, say officials
@stephnorton516 Steph on bluesky
I used this last year and it was great. One of the most practical, useful, and obvious improvements to the US individual tax return filing process in decades. Scrapping it makes absolutely no sense. — apnews.com/article/irs-...
@magaziner.house.gov Representative Seth Magaziner on bluesky
So instead of using technology to make government more efficient, DOGE is canceling technology to make big corporations richer 🤔 — apnews.com/article/irs-...
@beyer.house.gov Congressman Don Beyer on bluesky
Direct File, a prime example of making government more efficient, gave Americans an easy and free option to file their taxes. — But Donald Trump cares more about his wealthy friends than working Americans so he wants to kill the program and make filing taxes harder. — apnews.…
@jayapal.house.gov Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal on bluesky
IRS Direct File gave people a simple and FREE way to file their taxes. — Now, Trump wants to get rid of it and allow tax preparation corporations to continue to rip taxpayers off with predatory fees. — So much for cutting costs for the American people. — apnews.com/article/…
@karlbode.com Karl Bode on bluesky
easily one of the more useful government efficiency improvements in recent years thrown in the trash by a dim autocrat — is this the good faith populism I've read so much about in the pages of the New York times and hallowed writings of notable trust fund anti-monopoly icon Mat…
@ncweaver.skerry-tech.com Nicholas Weaver on bluesky
There is a really offensive ad for Turbo Tax “Free” that has the person looking AT THE FINE PRINT to go “oh great, I can file for free, yippee”. This is what removing Direct File is about supporting. [embedded post]
@paleofuture Matt Novak on bluesky
There's no way to spin this as anything but a handout to corporate interests. [embedded post]
@erickfernandez Erick Fernandez on bluesky
A new report has come out that Trump is planning to end Direct File. — It is in line with everything this administration does. These people are bought and paid for by corporations and their lobbyists & will seek to destroy programs that benefit the working and middle class. —…
@alecstapp Alec Stapp on x
This would be a terrible decision if it goes through. Direct File has been a successful pilot program and shows how effective state capacity can solve real problems for people. The only beneficiaries of this move would be rent-seekers like TurboTax and H&R Block. [image]
@jhweissmann Jordan Weissmann on x
The (bitterly) funny part here is that — as the article notes — Elon and DOGE briefly talked about creating a free app where people could file their taxes, seemingly unaware that the government had already begun rolling one out.
@senwarren Elizabeth Warren on x
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are going after Direct File because it stops giant tax prep companies from ripping taxpayers off for services that should be free. Americans want a free and easy way to file their taxes — Trump and Musk want to take that away.
@jmhorp @jmhorp on x
As long as they don't get rid of Free File Fillable Forms, I will be happy
@ppavnr Pavan Venkatakrishnan on x
Absolutely boneheaded.
@elwasson Erik Wasson on x
The easy-to-use free website to file taxes is being shuttered. Direct File was opposed by paid tax preparers
@fatimathefatima Fatima Hussein on x
Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say https://apnews.com/...
r/technology r on reddit
AP: Trump admin to kill IRS free tax-filing service that Intuit lobbied against | Amid IRS staff cuts, employees were told to stop working on Direct File.
r/Economics r on reddit
Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say
r/Accounting r on reddit
Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say
r/centrist r on reddit
IRS making plans to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status
r/uspolitics r on reddit
Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say
r/news r on reddit
Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say
r/politics r on reddit
Trump administration plans to end the IRS Direct File program for free tax filing, AP sources say

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