As the Trump administration proceeds to abolish the American agency for international development, false and misleading information is being pushed on social media to support the change, most of them are spread by administration and alone musk Is.
Posts question some projects and funds for organizations, often claim that money was used improperly.
White House press secretary Karolin Lewit told reporters on Tuesday that USAID spent $ 1.5 million to pursue DEI in Serbia workplaces; 70,000 for the production of a dei music in Ireland; 47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, 32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. “Those claims were raised and widely spread on social media throughout the week.
Only the Serbian organization was awarded a grant called Group Izadji by USAID. Its purpose is “the diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia workplaces and commercial communities.”
The rest was honored by the office of the State Department for public diplomacy and the office of the Under Secretary for public affairs. In 2022, it allowed an Irish company to “America and Irish to promote shared values for a live musical event to $ 70,884, promoting the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and access.” The grant for $ 25,000 In 2021, a university in Columbia was given “to raise awareness through an opera production and increase transgender representation”, with an additional $ 22,020 from non-union funding. And in 2022 a Peru’s outfit was awarded by $ 32,000, “a touched comic, which is characterized by an LGBTQ+ Hero to address social and mental health issues.”
Rachel Bonifild, a senior partner at The Center for Global Development, said, “Information atmosphere about USAID is not in a very difficult place, where many false and misleading information is being broadcast.” “And I hope everyone can return to the facts that are publicly available, and we can discuss a good faith what USAIDs should do and not be based on them.”
Scene Roberts, a professor of international affairs and director of the school’s International Development Studies Master Program at George Washington University, said that it “understands” that these programs were funded by the under secretary’s office.
“They do these small grant programs as outreach for local organizations and local communities and they are usually reflecting friendship between the values and countries of the United States,” he said. “Sometimes they are about democracy, in which case they are about diversity. But they have nothing to do with USAID. ,
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said that when asked about the portrayal of the Trump administration of USAID funding, including Levit’s statement earlier this week, the taxpayer outlines this waste of the dollar that the President with the US interests Foreign aid stopped on the first day to align. “He did not address the wrongly presented grants quoted above.
What about media?
The major media outlets are among the organizations that have been excluded with false and misleading claims, including the Associated Press.
For example, the BBC was asked to receive approximately $ 3.2 million (2.6 million pounds) during the 2023–2024 financial year. But that money did not go into his news operation. It went to BBC Media Action, an international donation that is “part of the BBC family,”, but is an editorial and economically different from the BBC News, the charity said in a statement. That year BBC Media had about 8% of the budget budget.
“We follow the BBC editorial standards and values in our support for public interest media,” reads the statements. “However, all our funding goes to our own projects. These are completely different from BBC News journalism. We have no influence on BBC News making editorial decisions. The BBC in the UK is mostly funded by the TV license fee. ,
BBC – BBC not including media action, which is a separate unit – also earns income from commercial subsidiaries of the organization.
Widely shared posts on social media also wrongly claimed that Politico received at least $ 8 million from USAID in 2024, with some posts highly placed the number as $ 34.3 million. This is wrong. Usaid paid $ 44,000 to the news site at membership fees in the financial year 2023 and 2024. But additional government payment came from other institutions.
Politico, CEO Goli Shekhaolami and Editor-in-Chief John Harris readers said on Thursday that he was not getting government subsidy.
The associated press media outlets were one of the USAID funding to get. Although the news wire has been paid $ 37.5 million by other government agencies since 2008, none of it has come from USAID, according to a federal government website, which tracks its expenses. AP spokesman Lauren Easton said that “the US government has been an AP customer for a long time – both through Democratic and Republican administration. It licenses thousands of news outlets and customers like customers. It is quite common to contract with news organizations for their content.
Conversion
Foreign aid experts say that it is normal for the upcoming administration to check how assistance is allocated and changes based on its values.
“To visit a new administration and review the assistance to see if it is in line with their views about American interest and their policy priorities, their general orientation, in principle it is completely normal and suitable in principle Is. The results of the elections are, “Bonifild said.
However, he said that the information about USAID funding on social media shows the lack of how the agency works.
“Some inspirations are being assigned to it which do not really look square with facts and people are reaching the conclusion without understanding what is happening,” he said. “It is not necessary to say that all those expenses are good or they should continue, but they are implementing this intention that is not there.”
Roberts described the current approach of Trump Administration for USAID “now, ask questions” later, in which it is increasing any funding data, which is “allegations that set fire to” nothing Can do using “.
In the context of recent social media posts about USAID funding, he said, “They just obscure any rational discussion about whether this agency is meaningful and what is its goals and what is the purpose of foreign aid . ”
Bonifild and Roberts agreed that further research would be necessary to determine independently from political views whether there are examples of inappropriate or useless expenses.
USAID is an independent agency that has provided humanitarian and development assistance worldwide for more than 60 years. According to its 2023 annual report, the agency worked in more than 100 countries worldwide, directed by the focus of five regions: promoting global health, supporting global stability, providing humanitarian aid, innovation and innovation To catalyze partnership, and empower women and girls.