USAID Funneled Nearly $800 Million To ‘Gender Transformative’ Global Censorship Group

America’s foreign aid agency, USAID, has given nearly$ 800 million to a group that has pushed censorship and suppressed “heteronormativity” across the globe, according to documents reviewed by The Federalist. &nbsp,

The 2021021717708989.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening ( CEPPS) 2021090318814339.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>took in$ 799.7 million in funding from 2015 to 2021, per IRS tax documents. According to InfluenceWatch,” The organization is solely funded by the U. S. Agency for International Development ( USAID )”.

As President Donald Trump pushes to “ href=”https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-confirms-he-is-winding-down-usaid-2025-02-04/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>wind down“ USAID— which has seemingly become a huge “scam on U. S. taxpayers” — government funding disclosures have brought to light the usually trivial, and in this case wicked, use of open tax dollars. The Federalist recently reported that the federal government has been funding America’s legacy media outlets for decades with lucrative contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. &nbsp,

CEPPS— whose site is no longer common —&nbsp, claims to be a “nonpartisan” team focused on global “democratic advancement”, according to an archived website. However, its website suggests that CEPPS has been working to advance censorship and dramatic gender ideology throughout the rest of the world while corporate media have been pushing propaganda internally.

The Money Trail

CEPPS was funded by USAID’s” International Elections and Democratic Moves” honor from 2016 to 2020, according to InfluenceWatch. USAID gave the organization a” Democratic Elections and Democratic Operations prize” for another five centuries after that organization’s nomination for in 2022. &nbsp,

CEPPS’s website IRS documents just show the party’s funding up until 2021, but The Federalist analyzed the party’s financing based on that publicly accessible information. The group received more than$ 94.1 million in 2015 — eventually reaching nearly$ 160.8 million in 2021, for a total of$ 799, 699, 782 in federal funding over seven years. Ironically, in these documents, the team does not record the wages of leading officials.

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems ( IFES ), the International Republican Institute ( IRI), and the National Democratic Institute ( NDI) are three of CEPPS’s three member organizations, which split the federal funding. The group has worked with “partners” in 140 states and has observed votes in 40 countries. &nbsp,

Pushing to Censor Speech that was not approved

CEPPS launched a” Countering Disinformation Guide” in April 2021″ with funding from USAID” for use by “practitioners, donors, political leaders, and civil society organizations around the world, to highlight the work being done to counter disinformation” .&nbsp,

Jerry Lavery, then-technical director of CEPPS ( and now regional coordinator for Southern and East Africa at the USAID Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance ), said in an online launch event that IFES, IRI, and NDI” contributed” to the speech control project. He said USAID’s” International Elections and Social Transitions Offer” “funded this essential activity”, which may “update over period”.

“CEPPS developed the link as a living initiative designed to empower lovers around the world to learn from each other the best ways to store deception, no matter who they are — governments, donors, professionals, individuals, civil society, press, or elections administration bodies”, Lavery said. ” Disinformation challenges to democracy require that we work together as a group to share our experiences, and to keep institutions, social media platforms, and political leaders accountable. …”

Lavery introduced David Black, a senior official at USAID, during the video. According to Black,” the guide will be an important tool for those who are working to counter these negative effects of disinformation.” He said,” For a while now”, USAID and CEPPS have been working to silence speech deemed “disinformation” — using an “evidence base” of which programs are effective, “programming in the field to counter disinformation”, and a “disinformation primer for USAID staff and others” .&nbsp,

Black said CEPPS’s guide will be “very useful to USAID staff”, as well as “other donors, aid organizations, partner governments, civil society organizations, and others” .&nbsp,

The” countering disinformation” platform is no longer public, but an archived webpage says the platform featured nine main categories. These included “legal and regulatory responses” to “inhibit political actors from using disinformation”, “platform specific engagement” to leverage” social media policies and enforcement actions”, and the “gender dimensions of disinformation” that provide a framework for silencing “gendered disinformation” that promotes “heteronormativity”.

The platform listed “legal and regulatory responses” to disapproved speech. It cautioned against doing so because it “posseils the potential for democratically damaging downstream results” and suggested nations could” criminalize the dissemination of fake news or disinformation”.

Approaches that infringed on speech in less direct ways received more favorable treatment thanks to the” countering disinformation” platform. When “party members or supporters share bad information“, it said, one response could be to force “parties and candidates to issue corrections”. It made reference to South Africa, a current human rights nightmare, as an example of a nation where” the Election Commission can compel parties and candidates to correct electoral disinformation.” It also said countries could “hold platforms liable for all content and require removal of content”, pointing to online content laws in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

CEPPS’s Countering Disinformation Guide included a “global database of organizations, projects, and donors working on and supporting these efforts” to suppress disapproved speech. Similar to NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index, which attempted to defund conservative outlets like The Federalist, had a menu with groups specifically focused on censorship. The Federalist, The Daily Wire, and the state of Texas sued the State Department, which was funding the GDI, for First Amendment violations. &nbsp,

CEPP’s platform included a GDI ive.org/web/20240919035522/https://counteringdisinformation.org/index.php/interventions/global-disinformation-index”>profile ( last updated in February 2021 ) that glowingly portrays GDI’s “aims to disrupt, defund and down-rank disinformation sites”.

‘ Gender Transformative and Intersectional ‘ Strategy

While CEPPS was pushing to silence unapproved speech, it was advancing an “inclusive development approach” — one” that is gender transformative and intersectional“, according to an archived webpage.

The group planned to “remove systemic inequities and discriminatory norms” worldwide. To do so, it would “dismantle systems of discrimination” and “use political organizing and collective action” to “influence political processes and outcomes”. The objectives of CEPPS were to” challenge heteronormative values and assumptions” and” create an enabling environment that promotes LGBTQI+ people’s full inclusion and participation.”

CEPPS highlighted its” Global Pride” work, including” Trans Queens Of The Night” in Guatemala and “LGBTI rights” groups in Burma, Lebanon, Serbia, and Haiti. The group celebrated” Global Pride Month” in 2021, 2022, and 2023 in joint statements with USAID— one of which promoted CEPPS’s censorship platform.

A document by USAID and CEPPS outlined” Effective Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex+ ( LGBTQI+ ) Democracy and Governance Programming”. It defined gender as the” socially constructed characteristics and related roles, rights, responsibilities, entitlements, and obligations associated with men and women” .&nbsp,

While defining “intersectionality”, the groups adopted the Marxist framework that “racism, sexism, and homophobia” work together to” create systems of oppression that reflects the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination”.

Part of CEPPS’s work includes mitigating what it has deemed “online violence“— not just to women, but, again, to “gender-diverse individuals”. It takes issue with “gendered commentary” and “harassment”.

” Perpetrators of online violence against women and technology-facilitated gender-based violence ( GBV ) exacerbate existing harmful gender norms and inequalities, enforce heteronormativity, increase social intolerance, and deepen existing societal cleavages”, the archived webpage reads. &nbsp,

CEPPS suggested guides on” the gender dimensions of disinformation“, “men, power, and politics“, and “addressing online misogyny and gendered disinformation“.

Elon Musk, the billionaire who oversees Trump’s efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ), responded to an X-post that cited CEPPS as an example of how USAID distributes money to various actors.

” Exactly”, Musk wrote. ” The money laundering is done through several intermediaries”.

Logan Washburn is a staff writer who writes about election ethics. He is a The College Fix spring 2025 fellow. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan grew up in rural Michigan but is originally from Central Oregon.

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