Tygedeo News

The United States has informed European states that it is abandoning joint efforts to combat disinformation.

The States is terminating agreements with European countries to combat disinformation from Russia, China and Iran. This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to European officials.

As noted, the US has informed European states that it is abandoning joint efforts to combat disinformation.

Last week, European countries received a notification from the State Department that the US is terminating memoranda of understanding signed last year under the administration of President Joe Biden, which were intended to form a unified approach to identifying and exposing malicious information disseminated by foreign governments with the aim of creating chaos.

The memos were part of an initiative led by the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department agency that combats disinformation spread abroad by U.S. adversaries and terrorist groups.

According to diplomat and journalist James Rubin, who headed the center until December, the move is a “unilateral act of disarmament” in the information war with Russia and China.

The Center was established in 2011 to counter terrorist propaganda and violent extremism online. It later also began tracking and exposing disinformation campaigns abroad.

The Trump administration has dismantled a number of government agencies, including the GEC.

Russia has reportedly been waging an aggressive disinformation campaign in recent years to sow chaos and undermine support for Ukraine and the Western world order.

Last September, the GEC accused the Russian state-run channel RT of acting on behalf of Russian intelligence services using cyber espionage and attempting to manipulate the presidential election in Moldova.

The United States has imposed sanctions on RT and other Russian state-run channels for their role in spreading disinformation. After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the channel was banned in Europe.

As a reminder, in January this year, the European Parliament voted for a resolution on disinformation and falsification of history by Russia, which is being used to manipulate public opinion and justify the war against Ukraine.