If the Gaza war taught us anything, it is that information truly is power. The ability to shape perceptions, to win “hearts and minds,” and to define the terms of national (and international) debate is as important as battlefield success. That’s why the militants of Hamas, while losing on the battlefield against Israel’s superior military capabilities, managed so adroitly to capture and manipulate the public discourse surrounding the conflict.
It’s therefore deeply surprising that the United States has chosen to quit this field of battle. Since this spring, the Trump administration has taken a hatchet to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the federal entity responsible for overseeing American international broadcasting. The administration’s plans call for the agency to be shuttered outright and for its constituent parts — from federal services like Voice of America to “grantees” like Radio Free Asia — to be either eliminated or eventually repackaged in minimalist form.
Many of the administration’s criticisms of USAGM are apt. The agency has suffered for years from an array of serious problems. But the decision to destroy rather than reform it is having real-world consequences abroad, where U.S. adversaries are expanding their informational reach.
The numbers tell the story. China, for instance, is spending billions of dollars annually on propaganda, false narratives and fake news. Back in 2021, Rand researchers estimated that figure to be “at least $10 billion a year.” And this might be just the tip of the iceberg. National security officials familiar with the information warfare portfolio have suggested that the Rand number is very much a lowball and the true amount China is spending in this domain could be three times that. This surge can be seen in Africa, where Beijing is busy buying up local media channels to better control the narrative about the Chinese Communist Party, and in ramped-up disinformation targeting political and social cohesion in Taiwan and throughout the Indo-Pacific.
Second is Russia. From 2024 to 2025, the Kremlin’s spending on propaganda rose by 13 percent, to approximately $1.4 billion. Russia made this change in the middle of a protracted and costly conflict with Ukraine, one that has progressively driven the nation toward recession. That figure, however, accounts only for Russia’s “white budget” — that is, the Kremlin’s official declared expenditures. European officials assess Russia is spending considerably more, perhaps as much as an additional $1 billion annually, by drawing on black budgets and hidden coffers. Moscow has used this money to undermine European societies, to promote itself as a reliable partner in the Middle East and Africa, and to expand its appeal in the Americas.
Then there is Iran. The Islamic Republic’s spending on informational activities is more modest, because its economy is significantly smaller than that of either Russia or China. Nevertheless, its expenditures are significant, recently estimated at $400 million, an increase of more than 30 percent over last year. All this while the country’s currency has cratered and drought conditions have become so severe that officials have suggested they might have no choice but to move the capital from Tehran to another part of the country.
And the situation is significantly worse at present: China, Russia and Iran are ramping up informational activities in places where the United States is now noticeably absent, like Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Over the past six months, Russia’s RT has expanded Spanish-language broadcasting to encompass Chile, while its Sputnik multimedia outlet launched Portuguese-language radio broadcasting in Rio de Janeiro. RT has also boosted collaboration with the African Union of Broadcasting, creating a “strategic partnership” that will allow Moscow to message more forcefully throughout the continent. China, meanwhile, has inked multiple memorandums of understanding to share its informational content (and ideological worldview) with media organizations in Turkey, Belarus and assorted other countries. As for Iran, it recently concluded a series of cooperation deals with Russian media outlets like Ruptly and Mir TV, paving the way for Russian propaganda to better access the Iranian populace — and vice versa.
