The U.S. government has formally ended its cooperation with European partners in the fight against disinformation campaigns originating from Russia, China, and Iran by terminating key memoranda of understanding established under the Biden administration. These agreements were central to a coordinated strategy spearheaded by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), which was created in 2016 to detect and counter foreign propaganda and interference. The GEC was officially dismantled earlier this year after Republican lawmakers blocked the extension of its mandate and funding, leading to the closure of its successor office in April 2025 under Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
European governments received formal notification last week that these MoUs, designed to unify efforts in identifying and mitigating malicious narratives from U.S. adversaries will no longer be honored or supported. Analysts warn that this withdrawal significantly weakens the Western alliance’s defensive posture at a time when information warfare is intensifying, particularly as adversaries leverage AI-enhanced tools to disrupt democratic institutions. James Rubin, the former coordinator of the GEC, characterized the move as a “unilateral act of disarmament.”
Critics argue that the dissolution of the GEC and its international partnerships signals a retreat from collective resilience-building in the face of disinformation threats. Nonetheless, Trump administration officials, including Darren Beattie, have asserted that the former office was ineffective, and even a suppression of free speech, necessitating its closure.
