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US funding for global internet freedom 'effectively gutted'
- black_13 8mo ago[dead]
- cyclecount 8mo ago[flagged]
- fiachamp 8mo ago[flagged]
- wewxjfq 8mo agoA program that helped people evade real censorship is "feeding them US propaganda" and social media awash with state-sponsored trolls tearing our societies apart is "an alternative geopolitical narrative" - bit of a spin, isn't it?
- geraneum 8mo ago> American propaganda can reach people in Iran > American’s exposure to alternative geopolitical narratives In the same breath!
- js8 8mo agoI downvoted you because I don't understand the point you're trying to make.
- krige 8mo ago(G)GP does the classic "it's freedom fighting when we're doing it". Either call both propaganda, or call both alternative narratives, otherwise your bias is blatantly showing.
- modo_mario 8mo agoI think especially the billionaire bit made it clear to me that he's not being serious.
- NooneAtAll3 8mo agoit's the good ol' "calling one side propaganda, but the other narrative" gasp, but reversed from usual western pov so it's a downvote either for consistency (and neutrality) or for the sake of lol :)
- joe_mamba 8mo ago>These programs were largely about ensuring that American propaganda can reach people in Iran or similar places. This. The og point of USAID wasn't AID as per the name would misleadingly let you believe, but spreading pro-US anti-USSR propaganda, and only like 3% of that program was spent on actual AID, like food and medicine for the third world, but most of it went to funding media, news and journalists across LatAm, Asia, Africa dn EE, that would push domestic support in those regions for US policies and be critical of US adversaries. US doesn't fund "freedom" of anything out of selflessness, it funds policies that are guaranteed to benefit it over its rivals, and use the word "freedom" to legitimize it. Once those benefits no longer materialize, the funding also goes away.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- BLKNSLVR 8mo agoMakes the future interestingly unpredictable other than the inevitable fading of the US-isation of the rest of the world.
- joe_mamba 8mo ago>US-isation of the rest of the world Growing up in a post-communist country, Hollywood and the US music and gaming industry had more impact on the "US-isation of our country" than USAID propaganda, back then. But today most of Hollywood productions and music coming out of the US is pure trash that people abroad now reject it as propaganda garbage. US destroyed its global soft power, not by defunding USAID, but by forcibly injecting unpopular ideologies into its entertainment industry instead of sticking to tried and true formulas, ideals and values that transcend cultural and language barriers.
- lyu07282 8mo ago> forcibly injecting unpopular ideologies Oh the right-wing propaganda of decrying "wokeness" in pop culture that "replaces" good old white christian culture is very much an export you fell victim to as well. It promotes far-right "alternative" political parties, useful to the US all the same..
- ibotty 8mo agoReally important to first, pick that example of content moderation and then point out that he's an Israeli. Maybe think about why you used that example when there are countless others regarding free speech/internet freedom.
- lyu07282 8mo agoI would point to the opposite bias, the guardian mentions Chinese surveillance tech exported to Africa, but makes no mention of Israeli spyware exports. The Israeli export of civil repression technology, expertise and training is actually very well documented, having a lot of practice with such oppression domestically.
- ibotty 8mo agoAs if the guardian was overly pro-Israeli. I would argue that it makes more sense in that context to mention Chinese surveillance tech, because it's not an ally of the US.
- lyu07282 8mo agoI would think it's very much important to point out the double standard, it's an ally of the west so it's fine if they do it, but not if china does it because they are the "enemy". That's all what the comment you accused of antisemitism was doing.
- ibotty 8mo agoWell, double standard is of course a thing (like accusing the only democracy for not being democratic enough without saying anything about much more oppressive regimes around; but also about surveillance in one place and also another). I think it is to make a different point though. This funding from the US was to get around surveillance (everywhere), so it makes sense to argue, that a rival global player exports surveillance tech, because the funded tech is to counter that. That argument would not work with Israeli surveillance tech.
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- lollobomb 8mo agoExactly this. The fact that you got downvoted tells a lot about how much political propaganda has infiltrated HN.
- bugsense 8mo agoMore like "freedom".
- yorwba 8mo agoFor a list of projects funded by the Open Technology Fund, see https://www.opentech.fund/projects-we-support/supported-projects https://www.opentech.fund/projects-we-support/supported-proj... Includes well-known entities like the Tor Browser and F-Droid, but also plenty of stuff I never heard of before.
- KevinMS 8mo agohold up. 40 million dollars over 5 years for an open source VPN?
- RobotToaster 8mo agoSupposedly that only covers "user carrying costs" too.[0] They claim to have 3 million weekly users[1], I have no idea if that's a realistic cost for running a VPN of that scale? Notably applicants for these grants don't have to be non-profits[0], which seems a little odd? [0]https://www.opentech.fund/funds/surge-and-sustain-fund/ https://www.opentech.fund/funds/surge-and-sustain-fund/ [1]https://psiphon.ca/en/about.html https://psiphon.ca/en/about.html
- davidguetta 8mo agowhat is going on
- jongjong 8mo ago[flagged]
- renewiltord 8mo agoAs The Guardian has previously pointed out https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-stir-unrest https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitt...: USAID and these orgs were "undermining Cuba's communist government". Now it's time to celebrate. People will now be free to live as they wish under communism or whatever else they choose. It is not for us to choose whether people want to be invaded by Russia or ruled by Castro. If they don't want this, let them choose otherwise. End all American foreign interference.
- Cipater 8mo agoBetter to have the foreign interference done directly by the President himself along with his family and cronies for personal gain.
- renewiltord 8mo agoThe President will be gone in a few years and USAID will still be gone. So that's the ideal state of affairs. The Republicans will have cleared out the bad agency and then whacked themselves. It's like radiation. You don't want the radiation always there but it's the only way to kill the cancer so you take it.
- Cipater 8mo ago"End all American foreign interference" he says. But this one guy can do all the foreign interference he wants, in America's name, as a treat. "It's ideal" he says.
- renewiltord 8mo agoOh no, that's not ideal, but he'll be gone in 3 years and then it'll be ideal because the US will not be involved with other people and hopefully NATO is dismantled by then so we aren't interfering in other nations' affairs or funding Ukraine or whatever other messing about in other peoples' business.
- ben_w 8mo agoWhile also claiming they'll put up a VPN to give people unfettered access to social media websites now that lots of nations are putting more restrictions on them: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-plans-online-portal-bypass-content-bans-europe-elsewhere-2026-02-18/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us-plans-online-portal-bypass-...
- RobotToaster 8mo agoSo they're cutting funding for TOR while making a shitty version?
- xyzal 8mo agoA version only facilitating access to sites friendly to the Mad King and friends. No Fediverse for you!
- ben_w 8mo agoPerhaps, but that assumes they're actually making anything. It's quite possible they're only announcing it, or will only take people's money, or that this is a re-badge of something one of their donors already made and couldn't sell on an open market.
- totetsu 8mo agoMaybe just a rebranded version? Trump Oll-mighty Regent browser.
- mvdwoord 8mo agoIf it is so important, why are we relying on the US to fund it? Maybe it is not that important? Maybe this program is not a pillar for 'internet freedom', maybe, as we can clearly see, most of the world (including the EU) has no real interest in 'internet freedom'.. Don't get me wrong, I personally very much think freedom (internet or otherwise) is very important, and valuable. But the tone where Orange Man Bad pulls funding for ostensibly super duper important projects is such a bore. Maybe in stead of pointing out how bad this move is, we should be doing something about it? Oh wait we are busy clamping down on "hate speech" and blocking "dangerous" social media such as X.
- cyanydeez 8mo agoWrite me a sonnet on how proliferating child pornography is really free speech.
- mvdwoord 8mo agoThink of the children!
- rickydroll 8mo agoThat's the problem, the wrong people are.
- cyanydeez 8mo agoYeah, yeah. I mean, sure, we can claim a spurilous "think of thie children" angle, but usually that's about Children doing something; not pervy AIs and their pedophile proclivities.
- Propelloni 8mo agoI'm not worried, freedom.gov will save us all! /s
- wartywhoa23 8mo agoSure thing, the data grab stage is complete, models are trained, the bulk of the global data is in the pocket and whatever new arrives can be spoon-fed to them without the need to fund all this huge "free" data funneling infrastructure, and however much money was thrown into that must be recouped. "Free internet" was but a business strategy, both as in beer and in freedom.