US Weakens Disinformation Defenses, as Russia & China Ramp Up www.darkreading.com/threat-in…

While cyberattacks on the private sector and critical infrastructure by Russian and Chinese state-sponsored threat groups gain the most media attention, disinformation efforts by the two countries continue to ramp up, targeting civilians worldwide in a battle for public opinion.

It’s one battlefield that Western governments and companies seem ready to concede.

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order eliminating “the non-statutory components and functions” of the US Agency for Global Media, which operates both Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, dismantling the US-funded media outlets that represent democratic ideals globally and combat disinformation from Russia and China in developing parts of the world. The shutdown follows the defunding of the State Department’s disinformation-tracking Global Engagement Center (GEC), which the Republican-led Congress shuttered in December, following complaints by Elon Musk that the 120-employee agency’s activities amounted to government censorship