Trump administration shutters US office countering foreign disinformation

State department's R/Fimi hub closed after rightwing critics alleged it censored conservative American speech

The Trump administration is shuttering the state department's last remaining bastion to monitor foreign disinformation campaigns.

Known as the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/Fimi) hub, the closure represents a huge victory for rightwing critics who had alleged that the office, despite only looking at foreign state-level disinformation attacks on other countries, was involved in censoring American conservative speech. It comes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle what it describes as government overreach in monitoring speech.