US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down

[FightFight]

Source: france24

The Global Engagement Center, a State Department unit established in 2016, shuttered on Monday at a time when officials and experts tracking propaganda have been warning of the risk of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China.

"The State Department has consulted with Congress regarding next steps," it said in a statement when asked what would happen to the GEC's staff and its ongoing projects following the shutdown.

The GEC had an annual budget of $61 million and a staff of around 120. Its closing leaves the State Department without a dedicated office for tracking and countering disinformation from US rivals for the first time in eight years.

A measure to extend funding for the center was stripped out of the final version of the bipartisan federal spending bill that passed through the US Congress last week.

Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20241224-us-agency-focused-on-foreign-disinformation-shuts-down

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Russian troll operation

An in-depth look inside the Russian troll factory in St. Petersburg: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/world/europe/russia-troll-factory.html

Russian troll describes work in the troll factory: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/russian-troll-describes-work-infamous-misinformation-factory-n821486

A former Russian troll explains how trolls are taught to spread fake news: http://time.com/5168202/russia-troll-internet-research-agency/

A former Russian troll describes work in the troll factory as like being in Orwell’s world: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/17/a-former-russian-troll-speaks-it-was-like-being-in-orwells-world/

The activist who worked as a mole for Mueller and uncovered the troll farm in the Mueller indictment: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/03/15/594062887/some-russians-see-u-s-investigation-into-russian-election-meddling-as-a-soap-ope

The decent Russians working inside the troll factory trying to take it down: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-notorious-kremlin-linked-troll-farm-and-the-russians-trying-to-take-it-down/2017/10/06/c8c4b160-a919-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html

Even many Russians can’t stand what the troll farm is doing according to The Moscow Times: https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/the-kremlins-trolls-go-west-35651

Outstanding three-part video series in the New York Times on Russian disinformation and the troll program, “Operation Infektion”: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/opinion/russia-meddling-disinformation-fake-news-elections.html?auth=login-email&login=email&auth=login-email