Controversial Global Engagement Center shuts doors as result of congressional funding battle

The recent government funding battle in Congress left most people with a sense of disappointment or frustration, either about what was included and what was not, but there is one consequence of the temporary resolution that left the Biden administration fuming.

As the New York Post reports, the controversial Global Engagement Center (GEC) at the State Department was forced to conclude operations after legislators declined to reauthorize its funding as part of the deal made to prevent a government shutdown, a move that drew the curtain on an enterprise on which the White House relied to control information during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GEC's controversial role, revisited

Rancor regarding the GEC's operations took hold when journalist Matt Taibbi revealed the agency's role in pressuring social media platforms in the United States to block the free exchange of information on topics such as vaccines and the origins of the novel coronavirus.

The battle against so-called “disinformation” waged by the GEC all too-often veered into the realm of unconstitutional censorship, according to its critics on the GOP side of the aisle.

In March 2023, Taibbi explained during a congressional hearing what he had discovered, saying, “We learned Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation 'requests' from every corner of government: the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA.”

The GEC was also revealed to have provided financial support to the Global Disinformation Index, which tasked itself with determining that ten media outlets were propagating “disinformation,” including many in the U.S.

According to some Republican legislators, the GEC far exceeded its self-declared mission of “proactively addressing foreign adversaries' attempts to undermine U.S. interests,” and instead turned its attention to censoring the legal speech of American citizens.

“Worst offender” shuts its doors

As Fox News notes, the demise of the GEC is a welcome development to many, including billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who declared it the “worst offender in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation.”

Also not sorry to see the end of the GEC is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who, along with the Daily Wire and The Federalist, filed suit against the State Department and a host of government officials for “engaging in a conspiracy to censor, deplatform and demonize American media outlets disfavored by the federal government.”

According to the lawsuit, the GEC was used as a conduit to carry out censorship that the government could not otherwise legally accomplish.

A press release from Paxton's office explained, “Congress authorized the creation of the Global Engagement Center expressly to counter foreign propaganda and misinformation. Instead, the agency weaponized this authority to violate the First Amendment and suppress Americans' constitutionally-protected speech.”

In working to see the GEC defunded during the recent debate over the spending bill, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) emphasized, “This is an entity that is funded to censor conservatives. We should not be doing any of this stuff,” and fortunately, that is precisely the take that won the day.