US funding for global internet freedom 'effectively gutted'(theguardian.com)
theguardian.com
US funding for global internet freedom 'effectively gutted'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/19/us-funding-for-global-internet-freedom-effectively-gutted
70 comments
For a list of projects funded by the Open Technology Fund, see https://www.opentech.fund/projects-we-support/supported-proj... Includes well-known entities like the Tor Browser and F-Droid, but also plenty of stuff I never heard of before.
hold up. 40 million dollars over 5 years for an open source VPN?
what is going on
Supposedly that only covers "user carrying costs" too.[0]
They claim to have 3 million weekly users[1], I have no idea if that's a realistic cost for running a VPN of that scale?
Notably applicants for these grants don't have to be non-profits[0], which seems a little odd?
[0]https://www.opentech.fund/funds/surge-and-sustain-fund/
[1]https://psiphon.ca/en/about.html
They claim to have 3 million weekly users[1], I have no idea if that's a realistic cost for running a VPN of that scale?
Notably applicants for these grants don't have to be non-profits[0], which seems a little odd?
[0]https://www.opentech.fund/funds/surge-and-sustain-fund/
[1]https://psiphon.ca/en/about.html
While also claiming they'll put up a VPN to give people unfettered access to social media websites now that lots of nations are putting more restrictions on them: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-plans-online-portal-bypass-...
So they're cutting funding for TOR while making a shitty version?
A version only facilitating access to sites friendly to the Mad King and friends. No Fediverse for you!
Perhaps, but that assumes they're actually making anything. It's quite possible they're only announcing it, or will only take people's money, or that this is a re-badge of something one of their donors already made and couldn't sell on an open market.
Maybe just a rebranded version? Trump Oll-mighty Regent browser.
Sure thing, the data grab stage is complete, models are trained, the bulk of the global data is in the pocket and whatever new arrives can be spoon-fed to them without the need to fund all this huge "free" data funneling infrastructure, and however much money was thrown into that must be recouped.
"Free internet" was but a business strategy, both as in beer and in freedom.
"Free internet" was but a business strategy, both as in beer and in freedom.
I'm not worried, freedom.gov will save us all! /s
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If it is so important, why are we relying on the US to fund it? Maybe it is not that important? Maybe this program is not a pillar for 'internet freedom', maybe, as we can clearly see, most of the world (including the EU) has no real interest in 'internet freedom'..
Don't get me wrong, I personally very much think freedom (internet or otherwise) is very important, and valuable. But the tone where Orange Man Bad pulls funding for ostensibly super duper important projects is such a bore. Maybe in stead of pointing out how bad this move is, we should be doing something about it? Oh wait we are busy clamping down on "hate speech" and blocking "dangerous" social media such as X.
Don't get me wrong, I personally very much think freedom (internet or otherwise) is very important, and valuable. But the tone where Orange Man Bad pulls funding for ostensibly super duper important projects is such a bore. Maybe in stead of pointing out how bad this move is, we should be doing something about it? Oh wait we are busy clamping down on "hate speech" and blocking "dangerous" social media such as X.
Write me a sonnet on how proliferating child pornography is really free speech.
Think of the children!
That's the problem, the wrong people are.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, sure, we can claim a spurilous "think of thie children" angle, but usually that's about Children doing something; not pervy AIs and their pedophile proclivities.
As The Guardian has previously pointed out https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitt...: USAID and these orgs were "undermining Cuba's communist government". Now it's time to celebrate. People will now be free to live as they wish under communism or whatever else they choose. It is not for us to choose whether people want to be invaded by Russia or ruled by Castro. If they don't want this, let them choose otherwise.
End all American foreign interference.
End all American foreign interference.
Better to have the foreign interference done directly by the President himself along with his family and cronies for personal gain.
The President will be gone in a few years and USAID will still be gone. So that's the ideal state of affairs. The Republicans will have cleared out the bad agency and then whacked themselves. It's like radiation. You don't want the radiation always there but it's the only way to kill the cancer so you take it.
"End all American foreign interference" he says.
But this one guy can do all the foreign interference he wants, in America's name, as a treat.
"It's ideal" he says.
But this one guy can do all the foreign interference he wants, in America's name, as a treat.
"It's ideal" he says.
Oh no, that's not ideal, but he'll be gone in 3 years and then it'll be ideal because the US will not be involved with other people and hopefully NATO is dismantled by then so we aren't interfering in other nations' affairs or funding Ukraine or whatever other messing about in other peoples' business.
More like "freedom".