Another federal censorship agency bites the dust as the State Department dissolves its interagency censorship funding arm, the Global Engagement Center.
The State Department is dismantling the Global Engagement Center (GEC) and reassigning its employees, according to a notice reportedly shared with Congress. GEC became infamous over the last couple of years for its efforts to crush free speech. Its stated mission is to lead U.S. Federal Government efforts against “foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.” But GEC has been exposed for weaponizing funding and tools against Americans’ free speech.
The Washington Examiner investigative reporter Gabe Kaminsky posted on X Dec. 10, “Confirmed Congress received notice. ALSO Per NDAA 2025 agreement: No provision to extend the Global Engagement Center until 2031[.] GEC is the agency that—as I first reported at @dcexaminer—funded the Global Disinformation Index and had other 'censorship' ties @mtaibbi unearthed.” GEC thus received a funding snub in the NDAA for the coming year.
Kaminsky included an apparent screenshot of a notice referring to a “proposed amendment” to a provision that initially extended the authorization of GEC until 2031. According to the notice, with the amendment, “The agreement does not include the provision.” It is unclear if GEC’s reassigned employees will continue to engage in anti-free speech work in some other capacity.
In September, the House Small Business Committee released an interim report on government-tech censorship coordination, slamming GEC for violating its mandate. The report accused GEC of funding censorship entities, including the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which blacklisted right-leaning websites and redirected potential ad revenue that those sites could have made elsewhere. The Examiner originally exposed GEC’s funding to groups that worked to trigger domestic censorship.
GEC began to violate its mandate under Obama with the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). GEC began to fund efforts to censor supposed “disinformation” as early as 2018, as MRC previously reported.
In February, Joe Biden’s State Department defied the Congressional committee investigating GEC, insisting it would restrict the Small Business Committee’s ability to view documents. The Daily Wire, the Federalist, and the state of Texas previously sued the State Department over GEC’s anti-speech activities.
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