CARTOON: USAID Cuts Show Hundreds Of Supposed ‘Independent Media’ Outlets Totally Dependent Upon US Funding
With the money tap unexpectedly turned off, outlets around the world are panicking, turning to their readers for donations, and thereby outing themselves as fronts for U.S. power.
Cartoon by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
None of them are independent in any meaningful way. They are, in fact, completely dependent on USAID for their very existence. Not only that, but some USAID-backed journalists candidly admit that their funding dictates their output and what stories they do and do not cover.
Editor’s Note: A big shout out to Mint Press News for laying out the extent to which USAID has been a major PsyOps operation for the brutal American empire. I had some how missed this story from mid-February. While the US corporate media has focused almost exclusively on the agency’s humanitarian work, it has primarily been a tool for news manipulation in service to and profiting of the corporate empire. You can be sure the later will continue under some form while the former will starve. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for the dark full scope of USAID. — Mark Taylor]
By Alan Macleod
Mint Press News (2/18/25)
The Trump administration’s decision to pause USAID funding has plunged hundreds of so-called “independent media” outlets into crisis, thereby exposing a worldwide network of thousands of journalists, all working to promote U.S. interests in their home countries.
In late January, President Trump—along with help from the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk—began implementing sweeping changes to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the premise that the organization’s promotion of liberal and progressive causes was a gigantic waste of money. The group’s website and Twitter account have disappeared amid widespread speculation that it will cease to exist or be folded into Marco Rubio’s State Department.
The pausing of aid immediately sent shockwaves across the planet, not least in the international media, many of which, unbeknownst to their readers, are totally dependent on financing from Washington.
In total, USAID spends over a quarter of a billion dollars yearly training and funding a vast, sprawling network of more than 6,200 reporters at nearly 1,000 news outlets or journalism organizations, all under the rubric of promoting “independent media.”
With the money tap unexpectedly turned off, outlets around the world are panicking, turning to their readers for donations, and thereby outing themselves as fronts for U.S. power.
Media on the dole: Cash flow crisis hits hard
Perhaps the country most affected by this sudden change in policy is Ukraine. While criticizing the decision, Oksana Romanyuk, the Director of Ukraine’s Institute for Mass Information, revealed that almost 90% of the country’s media are bankrolled by USAID, including many that have no other source of funding.
While USAID specifically targets foreign audiences, much of its messaging comes back to America, as those foreign outlets are used as credible, independent, and reliable sources for newspapers or cable news networks to cite. Thus, its bankrolling of foreign media ends up flooding domestic audiences with pro-U.S. messaging as well.
Olga Rudenko, the editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent (an outlet MintPress previously revealed receives funds from Washington), also denounced the decision. Last month, she wrote that the USAID freeze is a greater threat to independent Ukrainian journalism than either the COVID-19 pandemic or the Russian invasion. The Kyiv Independent has since asked its readers to support a funding drive to keep pro-U.S. Ukrainian media alive. Other large Ukrainian outlets, such as Hromadske and Bihus.Info, have done the same.
Anti-government Cuban media have been plunged into a similar predicament. Miami-based CubaNet published an editorial asking readers for money. “We are facing an unexpected challenge: the suspension of key funding that sustained part of our work.” they wrote; “If you value our work and believe in keeping the truth alive, we ask for your support.” Last year, CubaNet received $500,000 in USAID funding to engage “on-island young Cubans through objective and uncensored multimedia journalism.” Cynics, however, might visit the website and see little but anti-communist talking points.
Madrid-based Diario de Cuba is also in dire straits. Last weekend, the outlet’s director, Pablo Díaz Espí, noted that “aid to independent journalism from the government of the United States has been suspended, which makes our work more difficult” before asking viewers to subscribe. Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the United States has spent giant amounts of money financing media networks in an attempt to bring the government down. Between 1985 and 2013 alone, Radio and TV Martí received over half a billion dollars in taxpayer money.
Across the world, the funding freeze has put outlets in immediate danger of shutting down. Burmese organizations have already begun firing staff. Around 200 journalists are thought to be directly paid by USAID. “We are struggling to survive,” Wunna Khwar Nyo, chief editor of Western News, told Voice of America. “I cannot imagine [how people will manage] without a salary to pay your rent,” worried Toe Zaw Latt of the Independent Press Council Myanmar.
A recent survey of 20 leading Belarusian media outlets found that a staggering 60% of their budgets come from Washington. Speaking about the USAID funding pause, Natalia Belikova of Press Club Belarus warned, “They are at risk of fading away and gradually disappearing.”
In Iran, U.S.-backed media have already had to fire workers. A BBC Persian report noted that more than 30 Iranian groups held a crisis meeting to discuss how to respond to the aid cuts.
Like in Iran, anti-government Nicaraguan media is highly dependent on subsidies from Washington. U.S.-backed Nicaragua Investiga condemned Trump’s decision as a “serious blow” against a media that “depends largely on the financial and technical support provided by agencies such as USAID.”
Another country awash in Western NGO cash is Georgia. On January 30, Georgia Today noted that USAID financing has been a “cornerstone” of the country since its independence. It warned that many organizations would immediately shutter their doors for good without the constant flow of money.
Similar reports have emerged from Serbia, Moldova, and across Latin America. Meanwhile, social media users have noticed that many of the most prominent anti-China voices on their respective platforms have gone strangely silent since the shutdown.
“Independent” media, brought to you by and for the US government
The cuts to USAID, therefore, have highlighted that the United States has consciously created a vast matrix encompassing thousands of journalists worldwide, all producing pro-U.S. content.
Yet, in discussing the USAID cuts, corporate media has insisted on describing these outlets as “independent.” “Independent outlets in [the] former Soviet Union are poised to be hurt by temporary shut down at key US agency,” wrote The Financial Times. “From Ukraine to Afghanistan, independent media organizations across the world are being forced to lay off staff or shut down after losing USAID funding,” The Guardian told its readers. Meanwhile, The Washington Post went with “Independent media in Russia, Ukraine lose their funding with USAID freeze.” Perhaps most notably, even organizations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF) did the same. Clayton Weimers, executive director of RSF U.S., commented, “Non-profit newsroom and media organizations have already had to cease operations and lay off staff. The most likely scenario is that after the 90-day freeze, they will disappear forever.”
There is already a serious problem in modern discourse with the term “independent media,” a phrase commonly defined as any media outlet, no matter how big an empire it is, that is not owned or funded by the state (as if that is the only form of dependence or control to which media is subject). But even at this extremely low bar, all these outlets fail. Indeed, Weimers’ warning underlines the fact that none of them are independent in any meaningful way. They are, in fact, completely dependent on USAID for their very existence.
Not only that, but some USAID-backed journalists candidly admit that their funding dictates their output and what stories they do and do not cover. Leila Bicakcic, CEO of Center for Investigative Reporting (a USAID-supported Bosnian organization), admitted, on camera, that “If you are funded by the U.S. government, there are certain topics that you would simply not go after, because the U.S. government has its interests that are above all others.”
While USAID specifically targets foreign audiences, much of its messaging comes back to America, as those foreign outlets are used as credible, independent, and reliable sources for newspapers or cable news networks to cite. Thus, its bankrolling of foreign media ends up flooding domestic audiences with pro-U.S. messaging as well. …
While USAID as an organization looks to be formally gone and subsumed by the State Department, Secretary of State Rubio said that many of its functions will continue as long as they are aligned with “the national interest” rather than “charity.” As such, it likely will not be long until the money spigot is turned back on for these pro-U.S. outlets. However, at least USAID’s demise has done at least one good thing; it has exposed vast swathes of global media for what they are: imperial propaganda projects of the United States.
The Crimes Of USAID Went Far, Far Beyond Mere News Manipulation
“In an attempt to stamp out the threat of socialism, USAID agents are also known to have taught torture techniques to right-wing Latin American dictatorships. In Uruguay, USAID’s Dan Mitrione taught police how to use electricity on different sensitive areas of the body, the use of drugs to induce vomiting and advanced psychological torture techniques. Mitrione wished to demonstrate on live subjects, so he would kidnap beggars from the streets and torture them to death.
“The notorious Guatemalan police, complicit in the country’s genocide of the Mayan population, also relied heavily on USAID for training. By 1970, at least 30,000 police officers had undergone counterinsurgency training, organized and paid for by USAID.
“USAID was even more heavily implicated in genocide in Peru in the 1990s. Between 1996 and 2000, Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori ordered the forced mass sterilization of 300,000 mostly indigenous women. USAID donated some $35 million to the program, now widely understood to constitute a genocide. No American official has faced any legal repercussions.”
— Alan Macleod, USAID Falls, Exposing A Giant Network Of US-Funded “Independent” Media (2/18/25)
Instagram SUSPENDED Me Over Gaza - Censorship Spirals Out Of Control
“It's clear there is a systematic attempt to silence the truth accordingly we need to speak ever louder.”
Owen Jones (4/22/25)
8-minute video
Leaked Data Reveals Massive Israeli Campaign To Remove Pro-Palestine Posts On Facebook & Instagram
Meta has overwhelmingly complied with Israel’s requests, making an exception for the government account by taking down posts without human reviews, according to the whistleblowers
By Waqas Ahmed, Nicholas Rodelo, Ryan Grim & Murtaza Hussain
Drop Site News (4/11/25)
A sweeping crackdown on posts on Instagram and Facebook that are critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians—was directly orchestrated by the government of Israel, according to internal Meta data obtained by Drop Site News. The data show that Meta has complied with 94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7, 2023. Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far, and Meta has followed suit—widening the net of posts it automatically removes, and creating what can be called the largest mass censorship operation in modern history.
Government requests for takedowns generally focus on posts made by citizens inside that government’s borders, Meta insiders said. What makes Israel’s campaign unique is its success in censoring speech in many countries outside of Israel. What’s more, Israel's censorship project will echo well into the future, insiders said, as the AI program Meta is currently training how to moderate content will base future decisions on the successful takedown of content critical of Israel’s genocide.
The data, compiled and provided to Drop Site News by whistleblowers, reveal the internal mechanics of Meta’s “Integrity Organization”—an organization within Meta dedicated to ensuring the safety and authenticity on its platforms. Takedown requests (TDRs) allow individuals, organizations, and government officials to request the removal of content that allegedly violates Meta’s policies. The documents indicate that the vast majority of Israel’s requests—95%—fall under Meta’s “terrorism” or “violence and incitement” categories. And Israel’s requests have overwhelmingly targeted users from Arab and Muslim-majority nations in a massive effort to silence criticism of Israel.
Multiple independent sources inside Meta confirmed the authenticity of the information provided by the whistleblowers. The data also show that Meta removed over 90,000 posts to comply with TDRs submitted by the Israeli government in an average of 30 seconds. Meta also significantly expanded automated takedowns since October 7, resulting in an estimated 38.8 million additional posts being “actioned upon” across Facebook and Instagram since late 2023. “Actioned upon” in Facebook terms means that a post was either removed, banned, or suppressed.
Takedown Requests
All of the Israeli government’s TDRs post-October 7th contain the exact same complaint text, according to the leaked information, regardless of the substance of the underlying content being challenged. Sources said that not a single Israeli TDR describes the exact nature of the content being reported, even though the requests link to an average of 15 different pieces of content. Instead, the reports simply state, in addition to a description of the October 7th attacks, that:
This is an urgent request regarding videos posted on Facebook which contain inciting content. The file attached to this request contains link [sic] to content which violated articles 24(a) and 24(b) of the Israeli Counter-Terrorism Act (2016), which prohibits incitement to terrorism praise for acts of terrorism and identification or support of terror organizations. Moreover, several of the links violate article 2(4) of the Privacy Protection Act (1982), which prohibits publishing images in circumstances that could humiliate the person depicted, as they contain images of the killed, injured, and kidnapped. Additionally, to our understanding, the content in the attached report violates Facebook’s community standards.
Meta's content enforcement system processes user-submitted reports through different pathways, depending on who is reporting it. Regular users can report posts via the platform’s built-in reporting function, triggering a review. Reported posts are typically first labeled as violating or non-violating by machine-learning models, though sometimes human moderators review them as well. If the AI assigns a high confidence score indicating a violation, the post is removed automatically. If the confidence score is low, human moderators review the post before deciding whether to take action.
Governments and organizations, on the other hand, have privileged channels to trigger content review. Reports submitted through these channels receive higher priority and are almost always reviewed by human moderators rather than AI. Once reviewed by humans, the reviews are fed back into Meta’s AI system to help it better assess similar content in the future. While everyday users can also file TDRs, they are rarely acted upon. Government-submitted TDRs are far more likely to result in content removal.
Overwhelming compliance with Israel
Meta has overwhelmingly complied with Israel’s requests, making an exception for the government account by taking down posts without human reviews, according to the whistleblowers, while still feeding that data back into Meta’s AI. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report investigating Meta’s moderation of pro-Palestine content post-October 7th found that, of 1,050 posts HRW documented as taken-down or suppressed on Facebook or Instagram, 1,049 involved peaceful content in support of Palestine, while just one post was content in support of Israel.
A source within Meta’s Integrity Organization confirmed that internal reviews of their automated moderation found that pro-Palestinian content that did not violate Meta’s policies was frequently removed. In other cases, pro-Palestinian content that should have been simply removed was given a “strike,” which indicates a more serious offense. Should a single account receive too many strikes on content that it publishes, the entire account can be removed from Meta platforms.
When concerns about overenforcement against pro-Palestinian content were raised inside the Integrity Organization, the source said, leadership responded by saying that they preferred to overenforce against potentially violating content, rather than underenforce and risk leaving violating content live on Meta platforms.
Remove, Strike, Suspend
Within Meta, several key leadership positions are filled by figures with personal connections to the Israeli government. The Integrity Organization is run by Guy Rosen, a former Israeli military official who served in the Israeli military’s signals intelligence unit, Unit 8200. Rosen was the founder of Onavo, a web analytics and VPN firm that then-Facebook acquired in October 2013. …
Despite Meta’s awareness of Israel’s aggressive censorship tactics for at least seven years, according to Meta whistleblowers, the company has failed to curb the abuse. Instead, one said, the company “actively provided the Israeli government with a legal entry-point for carrying out its mass censorship campaign.”
WTH? Whole New Level Of Zionist Control & Censorship At National Institute Of Health
Blatant free speech hypocrisy by the Republican right.
System Update (4/23/25)
21-minute video
Nazi America stinks.