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US funding for global internet freedom ‘effectively gutted’ Programme that funds groups building tech to evade oppressive government controls under serious threat For nearly two decades, the US quietly funded a global effort to keep the internet from splintering into fiefdoms run by authoritarian governments. Now that money is seriously threatened and a large part of it is already gone, putting into jeopardy internet freedoms around the world. Managed by the US state department and the US Agency for Global Media, the programme – broadly called Internet Freedom – funds small groups all over the world, from Iran to China to the Philippines, who built grassroots technologies to evade internet controls imposed by governments. It has dispensed well over $500m (£370m) in the past decade, according to an analysis by the Guardian, including $94m in 2024. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/19/us-funding-for-global-internet-freedom-effectively-gutted?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu