Documents: Michael Pack, CEO of USAGM, is seeking to cut funding for its nonprofit Open Technology Fund, limiting internet access in tightly controlled places
Pranshu Verma / New York Times : Tweets: @zacharykeck , @digiphile , @ewong , @deborahamos , @moisesnaim , @donmoyn , @tmclaughlin3 , and @frankpallone Tweets: Zachary Keck / @zacharykeck : Michael Pack tries to shut down Open Technology Fund, citing lack of Congressional authorization. The NDAA passed by both chambers authorizes it https://www.google.com/... Alex Howard / @digiphile : Despite bipartisan support, @USAGMgov head Michael Pack is trying to cut funding for it: https://www.nytimes.com/... Congress should step in before he disables a crucial utility for democracy & human rights advocates around the globe https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Edward Wong / @ewong : Michael Pack, the Steven Bannon ally who became head of USAGM after a push from Trump, is moving to end funding for the Open Technology Fund, which helps promote global internet freedom and has bipartisan support. Falun Gong is involved. By @pranshuverma_. https://www.nytimes.com/... Deborah Amos / @deborahamos : One more mess before they go; “The preposterous, easily disprovable allegations make it clear actions are purely punitive.” Trump Appointee Seeks to Cut Off Funding for Global Internet Access Group - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/... Moiss Nam / @moisesnaim : Michael Pack, the head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is moving to stop federal funding of the Open Technology Fund, which develops tools that allow people to get around controls on internet access. https://www.nytimes.com/... Don Moynihan / @donmoyn : In good news for authoritarian governments in China and Iran, a Trump appointee is shutting off funding to a nonprofit that helps people get around government controls to the internet https://www.nytimes.com/... Timothy McLaughlin / @tmclaughlin3 : Hong Kongers will know this fund as the group that Alex Lo said proved the US was paying Hong Kong protesters last year to demonstrate. https://twitter.com/... Rep. Frank Pallone / @frankpallone : The Open Technology Fund helps individuals around the world circumvent the suppression of free speech and ideas. This news is unfortunately more evidence that the Trump Administration has ceded our reputation as a leader in democracy and freedom of speech. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the latest escalation in a year-long fight over the Open Technology Fund, the USAGM nonprofit that funds circumvention tools for people in China, Iran, Hong Kong, and other tightly controlled information environments. In August, officials said the Trump administration was withholding $20M approved by Congress for the fund, forcing it to halt 49 of its 60 internet freedom projects, and the fund responded by suing USAGM over the withheld money.
Pack now argues the fund lacks Congressional authorization — even though the NDAA passed by both chambers authorizes it — and the move drew immediate bipartisan pushback from figures like Alex Howard and Rep. Frank Pallone. Two days after this report, Congress approved two bills limiting Pack's powers, including giving the fund more time to defend its budget.
First-order effects
- Users of OTF-funded circumvention tools in China, Iran, and Hong Kong face defunded projects on top of the 49 already halted by the withheld $20M.
- Pack is put in direct conflict with Congress, which has authorized the fund through the NDAA and is moving within days to strip him of the power to cut it.
Second-order effects
- Congress escalates from appropriations fights to structural checks: the two approved bills curbing Pack's authority signal that legislators will legislate around a CEO they see as bypassing them.
- The litigation and budget standoff force USAGM grantees and contractors to plan around an unreliable federal payer, pushing the fund's project pipeline toward crisis management.
Third-order effects
- The pattern — political leadership redirecting congressionally funded internet-freedom money, including the later reported push to subsidize Falun Gong-affiliated software (officials say Pack pushed to divert OTF money) — ends in Trump eliminating USAGM entirely in 2025, gutting the fund's budget and showing that nonprofit insulation inside an agency offers no protection when the agency itself is dismantled.
The trend: US government-backed internet freedom infrastructure is being pulled from statutorily insulated nonprofits into direct presidential and agency political control, with Congress fighting a losing rear-guard action.