Trump Order Gutting Agencies Cuts Tools to Fight Censorship Worldwide
The Open Technology Fund is a nonprofit organization established by Congress with its federal funding is administered through the US Agency for Global Media.
Photographer: Allison Robbert/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
President Donald Trump’s weekend shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media has among its casualties a small — but influential — fund that helps internet users worldwide combat censorship from oppressive regimes.
The Open Technology Fund, which gets $40 million a year from Congress, has contributed to technologies like the encrypted messaging app Signal, the anonymous browser Tor and an open-source tool built by Psiphon Inc. that helped more than a million Cubans circumvent a social media blackout in 2021.