USAID Funded Censorship, Smears of Americans
The controversial agency provides backdoor ways for the American government to finance propaganda against American citizens.
"USAID supports freedom fighters everywhere in this world," declared Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, at a rally yesterday outside the front gate of the United States Agency for International Development, the foreign assistance agency now targeted for sweeping cuts.
The reality, however, is murky. The sprawling agency has financed groups that have engaged in smear campaigns and efforts to silence prominent American dissident voices.
USAID has funded the Zinc Network, an anti-disinformation group that has targeted reporter Max Blumenthal, politician Vivek Ramaswamy, and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
USAID also funded a pesticide industry public relations effort known as v-Fluence, which dug up dirt about American food journalists Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman.
But most troubling, the foreign assistance agency has financed a network of groups in Ukraine that have spread unsubstantiated claims that American voices in favor of peace negotiations with Russia are agents of the Kremlin.
American government entities face restrictions on spreading such propaganda against domestic targets. The foreign nexus of USAID provides a convenient loophole. American grants and contracts flow, often through third-party intermediaries, to a network of foreign recipients, which can push to silence American journalists and politicians through outside advocacy.
In Ukraine, USAID, through its contractor Internews, supports a network of social media-focused news outlets, including New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, and the Institute of Mass Information. These news outlets have produced a series of videos and reports targeting economist Jeffrey Sachs, commentator Tucker Carlson, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and Professor John Mearsheimer as figures within a controlled “network of Russian propaganda.”
The influence of these outlets extends far beyond the borders of Ukraine. VoxUkraine, for instance, is an official fact-checking partner to Meta and helps the social media giant censor so-called disinformation. Detector Media similarly produces English-language disinformation reports widely circulated through western media.
Despite branding as independent outlets, these organizations are heavily reliant on USAID.
USAID, contract documents show, provides special grants to Detector Media to "undermine Kremlin information operations" and "bolster international support for solidarity with Ukraine." In 2021, Detector Media received 35.1% of its nearly $1 million budget from USAID contractor Internews. In 2023, USAID provided a $2.5 million direct grant to Detector Media.