The global freeze imposed on all USAID and State Department foreign assistance includes at least $268.4 million in funding earmarked to promote the circulation of fact-based information in closed societies and combat mis- and disinformation, a leading global media advocacy organization reports.

The funding freeze, which went into effect on January 26, is stoking “chaotic uncertainty” for independent journalists, according to the report, issued by Reporters Without Borders. It is especially damaging for non-state media organizations covering events in authoritarian-minded countries in regions such as Eurasia. The report does not provide a breakdown by country or region on the distribution of US financial aid in support of independent media. 

“The programs that have been frozen provide vital support to projects that strengthen media, transparency, and democracy,” the report quotes Clayton Weimers, who heads RSF’s US office, as saying. “The tragic irony is that this measure will create a vacuum that plays into the hands of propagandists and authoritarian states.”

According to a now publicly inaccessible USAID datasheet, the agency provided funding in 2023 to support over 6,000 individual journalists, 707 non-state-affiliated news outlets and almost 280 media-sector organizations around the world. Data for 2024 is not available.

A report published by VOA’s Uzbek Service indicated the freeze is having somewhat of a lesser impact on assistance recipients in Central Asia than in other regions of the world.

But the freeze is certainly benefiting Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia, as exiled Russian media organizations now are grappling with a cash-flow crisis without ready alternative ways to raise funds.

“Exiled media are even more in a fragile position than others, as we can’t monetize our audience and the crowdfunding has its limits — especially when donating to Meduza is a crime in Russia,” the RSF report quotes Katerina Abramova, Meduza’s communications director, as saying.