U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says he hopes President-elect Donald Trump will use $160 million in an act he co-sponsored to combat state-sponsored propaganda overseas. President Obama signed the act into law this month.
Murphy says countries like Russia and China use propaganda and fake news to influence people around the world. Murphy says Trump's State Department officials don’t have to use the money to combat state-run propaganda.
“The Trump administration could choose to use all of this money to confront ISIS propaganda. They could choose to use none of it to confront Russian propaganda. So clearly there’s discretion.”
Murphy says the U.S. government wouldn’t spend the money to combat fake news stories aimed at U.S. audiences.
“And we shouldn’t have to in this country because we have a robust network of objective independent journalism.”
