The US government's commitment to global internet freedom has been significantly undermined, posing a grave threat to online liberties worldwide. For nearly two decades, the US quietly funded a global initiative to prevent the internet from fragmenting into authoritarian-controlled territories. However, recent developments have jeopardized this effort, with a substantial portion of the funding already depleted. The program, known as Internet Freedom, was administered by the US State Department and the US Agency for Global Media, allocating over $500 million in the past decade to support grassroots technologies that defy government internet controls. In 2024 alone, $94 million was allocated. The program's demise began with the arrival of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, which aimed to reduce government agency sizes. Consequently, numerous career employees associated with Internet Freedom resigned or were terminated in 2025, leading to the permanent cessation of several programs and the suspension of funding from the main granting office. The Open Technology Fund (OTF), a non-profit collaborating with the government to manage half of the funds, successfully sued to restore some funding in December 2025, but the Trump administration is currently appealing the ruling. The situation has worsened with the Trump administration's withdrawal from the Freedom Online Coalition, a global alliance established by the US to safeguard digital rights. The cuts pose a significant risk to technologies that facilitated Iranian coordination during recent anti-government protests and the dissemination of critical information about massacres. These technologies could also have a profound impact in nations like Myanmar and China, where groups strive to bypass government censorship and surveillance. A former US official described the program's fate as 'effectively gutted,' emphasizing the absence of grant issuance in the current year. Digital rights experts express concern, highlighting the program's pivotal role in supporting internet freedom. The Guardian's investigation involved interviews with 10 individuals knowledgeable about Internet Freedom, including six grantees, and the review of relevant documents. The US Department of State and OTF declined to comment. The program's objective was to hinder the ability of authoritarian regimes to isolate populations from the global internet, as North Korea and Iran have successfully achieved through extensive censorship. The US responded by funding groups that develop and utilize technologies to bypass such restrictions, including tools like Signal and Tor for online anonymity. These technologies also encompass advanced circumvention methods, such as satellite datacasting, enabling access to international news in regions with restricted internet access. Furthermore, these technologies facilitated secure communication among Iranians during recent protests, despite widespread internet outages. The underlying strategy was to maintain the internet as a global commons, accessible to all. By funding these groups, the US aimed to make censorship economically and technically challenging for oppressive governments. However, the ongoing cuts threaten to undermine these efforts, as censorship technologies become more accessible and affordable, with Chinese companies exporting sophisticated monitoring devices to various countries. The future of internet freedom remains uncertain, as the US funding gap widens, and the need for these technologies intensifies. Digital rights experts emphasize the urgency of the situation, warning that the absence of sustainable funding could exacerbate the global censorship crisis.
