Targeting fact-checkers and disinformation watchdogs
Trump's and Republican allies have long characterized efforts to counter mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM) as attacks on free speech and the suppression of conservative views. In 2022, Republicans created the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. House Republicans turned their sights on the Stanford Internet Observatory, which studied election-related rumors and disinformation, and other academic and research institutions dedicated to illuminating how misinformation spreads on social media, messaging apps, and other online venues. House Republicans also targeted content moderation systems at Big Tech companies for alleged suppression of First Amendment-protected free speech in coordination with the Biden administration and scrutinized efforts by federally supported nonprofits, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, to mitigate the corrosive effects of “fake news.” The attacks continued after Trump began his second administration in January 2025.
ACTION 96 | Trump allies continue to undermine counter-disinformation efforts
In January 2025, a conservative legal advocacy group called the Alliance Defending Freedom began investigating Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media and sent public records requests to four other major universities it alleges are part of the “censorship-industrial complex.” In March 2025, carrying efforts from the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to his new role as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan sent letters to 16 tech companies, ostensibly to carry out oversight of "how and to what extent" the Biden administration "coerced or colluded with them and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech." This entire process echoes the forced closure of the Stanford Internet Observatory, which had also been a major center of counter-disinformation, in 2024, following suits from Steven Miller's organization, America First Legal. (Miller serves as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor.) (Last updated 4/21/25)
ACTION 97 | Meta falls in line behind X
One month after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, he made a January 2025 announcement that the company was getting rid of fact checkers and planned to move some of its content moderation operations from California to Texas to avoid "regional bias." The announcement cited X—described as the “epicenter of misinformation" during the 2024 elections and Elon Musk's main platform for making or amplifying false or misleading assertions about federal agencies, government workers, and DOGE savings—as a model for its transition to a Community Notes approach. In his accompanying statement, Zuckerberg noted, "it's time to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram." (Last updated 4/21/25)
ACTION 98 | Secretary of State Rubio shutters counter-disinformation hub
On April 18, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the closure of the Department of State’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub, formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC). In February 2023, Musk—then head of Twitter—accused the GEC of “being 'worst offender in US government censorship,'" failing to note that as far back as 2020, the GEC had scrutinized Twitter for hosting inauthentic accounts believed to have been created with the intent to amplify Chinese propaganda. According to the MIT Technology Review, the shuttering of the hub leaves the Department of State with no way to actively counter increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaigns from countries like Russia, Iran, and China. (Last updated 4/21/25)