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From ... in Political Censorship —

USAID funded Brazil’s judiciary to target Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters

In recent years, USAID has funded the judiciary and media in foreign countries to target dissenters, including populist political figures such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. In which countries was USAID funding “independent” and corporate medi

USAID funded Brazil’s judiciary to target Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters

In recent years, USAID has funded the judiciary and media in foreign countries to target dissenters, including populist political figures such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

In which countries was USAID funding “independent” and corporate media to ensure they were US-aligned? All of them, including the UK.   

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Mike Benz is a former official with the US Department of State and current Executive Director of the Foundation For Freedom Online, a free speech watchdog organisation dedicated to restoring the promise of a free and open Internet. In February, he sat down with Joe Rogan to discuss the funding activities of USAID.

In the section below, Benz talks about the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (“CEPPs”), “the USAID programme that explicitly set its job to get foreign countries and foreign courts to pass censorship laws,” funding activities in Brazil.

He showed a screenshot from CEPPS’ website which has been “currently unavailable” since 4 February 2025; it has been archived on the Wayback machine HERE.

In Brazil, CEPPS’ core partner is the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (“TSE”), the highest body of the Brazilian Electoral Justice responsible for organising all stages of the Brazilian electoral process, from voter registration to the certification of elected candidates.

This “is the censorship court that shut down X [formerly Twitter] and that seized Starlink’s assets. And that effectively criminalised the speech of virtually any significant pro-Bolsonaro voice in Brazil,” Benz said.  “The whole thing was a USAID Truman Show taking over the Judiciary, or at least substantially influencing and to tilt it, to take out their political enemy Bolsonaro.”

“When the criminal justice system and the judges are rigged and the prosecutors are rigged, you don’t even have a country anymore because they can arrest the president, they can arrest the politicians, and it’s a shortcut to control over the whole society,” he said.

It’s not only in Brazil where USAID money has been used to fund nefarious activities.

Revelations since the Trump Administration began reorganising and cutting USAID indicate that USAID has been involved in funding and promoting censorship initiatives abroad. According to internal documents, USAID has been working with private sector technology companies, media organisations, education ministries and national governments to adopt social media censorship practices under the guise of combating misinformation.

USAID’s Disinformation Primer, an internal document, outlines strategies to influence these entities to adopt censorship practices. The document identifies ordinary people forming independent opinions online as a significant threat.

Additionally, USAID has been linked to funding media outlets that engage in smear campaigns and censorship against dissident voices. For instance, BBC Media Action, a charity linked to the BBC, received substantial funding from USAID and has been accused of engaging in censorship under the guise of “combating misinformation.”

“[USAID], known as a front for US intelligence operations, has financed regime change and other American interests worldwide. It also funds news organisations that are aligned with US foreign policy objectives. This includes large international organisations that, in turn, fund smaller media organisations like BBC Media Action,” The Defender said.

The agency also funds smaller media organisations directly and operates its own media initiatives to challenge regimes that the US considers problematic, The Defender said.  “Reporters Without Borders, which lamented the Trump cuts to USAID, reported that in 2023 the agency funded 6,200 journalists, 707 non-state news outlets and ‘supported 279 media-sector civil society organisations dedicated to strengthening independent media’.”

Quoting Michael Shellenberger, The Defender said, “USAID has, in recent years, been funding censorship worldwide through its countering disinformation programme, which is part of its consortium for elections and political process strengthening. This work has included funding for so-called fact-checking organisations.”

Sources for this article include:

Featured image taken from ‘Jair Bolsonaro Ordered to Face Trial in Brazil for Attempting a Coup’, The New York Times, 26 March 2025

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