Donald Trump · State Department · U.S. · MIT Technology Review
How ideas of a vast censorship network moved from the online fringe to Trump policy
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This article was produced in partnership with Type Investigations, with support from the Wayne Barrett Project.
Key facts
- The second Trump administration’s war on censorship has contributed to the dismantling of numerous government agencies, like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department
- High-profile narratives—like the claims that Twitter “shadow-banned” conservatives in 2018 and suppressed news about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020—have consistently kept alive the notion
- One morning in April 2025, employees of a small office in the US State Department got the email many of them had been dreading
- Following the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol (itself driven by false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen), social media companies took more aggressive measures, including banning
Summary
One morning in April 2025, employees of a small office in the US State Department got the email many of them had been dreading. For months, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had been cutting a wide swath through federal agencies, gutting teams that worked on everything from scientific research to Social Security to international aid. “We all had heard … that there was going to be a day they would shut down our office,” says one former staffer, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. Darren Beattie, a far-right provocateur who had been serving as the acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, wasted no time with pleasantries, telling the gathered employees that the office was being shuttered and that their jobs were being eliminated.