Christine Drews Sieger
The US State Department is launching an $11m initiative to counter Chinese propaganda by paying South-East Asian content creators $2,500 each to promote content aligned with US foreign policy.
The high-profile document leak was supposed to reveal illegal domestic censorship inside a shuttered office at the US Department of State.
Conservative critics long alleged that workers secretly targeted American citizens under the guise of fighting propaganda.
Former agency leaders strongly reject those claims. They insist the unit focused entirely on foreign operations coming from nations like Russia, China, and Iran.
“If the smoking gun was a gendered disinformation report, that feels like they came up short,” former acting deputy coordinator Carrie Goux told The Guardian. “There seems to be absolutely nothing here.”
Buying influence
Congress cut funding for the original center in 2024, leading to its complete shutdown the following year.
Yet internal proposal documents show the state department is actively building a new campaign to counter Chinese propaganda across south-east Asia.
The state department’s new $11m strategy aims to shift regional narratives by funding local online voices.
Individual content creators in South-East Asia stand to receive $2,500 each to publish content that aligns with US foreign policy interests.
The program also funds creator workshops and studio trips directly to the United States.
Former officials warn that outsourcing this diplomatic work to private contractors is not only more expensive for taxpayers, but also undermines US credibility abroad.
“The US has lost their seat at the table,” Goux warned, pointing out that public credibility is rapidly eroding in the process, according to The Guardian.
A Contradiction at the Heart of the Strategy
This shift exposes a clear contradiction in Washington’s foreign policy.
While conservative pressure successfully eliminated the Global Engagement Center over censorship fears, the State Department is now quietly rebuilding the exact same capabilities under new management.
As former officials point out, the government hasn’t abandoned the mission — it has simply moved it behind closed doors, likely paying private contractors more money for less oversight, according to The Guardian.
