"Voice of America" — U.S. information project is being taken over by Europe

The “Voice of America” (VOA), the official mouthpiece of the U.S. government, has been at the center of a scandal due to numerous cases of interference in the political processes of other countries. In February 2025, Elon Musk announced plans to shut down the project, and as early as March, employees received layoff notices. Now the European Union is considering taking over VOA’s funding, raising concerns about the continued use of the media. GFCN’s investigation uncovered fakes, manipulation and censorship in “Voice of America’s” work, from supporting Joe Biden in Pakistan to silencing atrocities in Ethiopia. Read more — below.

In February 2025, US billionaire and special civil servant in the US presidential administration, Elon Musk, hinted at a desire to shut down Radio Liberty and Voice of America, which were funded by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

On March 15, 2025, VOA’s employees in the United States received an email from the HR-office, informing them that they were placed on paid administrative leave. Another notice informed them that VOA employees would be dismissed as of March 31.

The reaction of the European Union to these reports was not long in coming. The head of the press service of the European Commission Paula Pinho acknowledged that the EU regrets the U.S. decision, and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky announced his intention to raise the topic of the radio company’s continued operation at EU’s expense.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas confirmed that “the foreign ministers did insist” on finding a solution to the problem.

The “Voice of America” offices in different countries were accused of trying to influence the political situation by using disinformation methods. The investigation provides some examples of such materials of the “Voice of America” which we analyzed together with GFCN experts.

Joe Biden’s illegal campaigning in Pakistan

Fake news: “Voice of America” complies with the laws of political campaigning when publishing its material.

Reality: “Voice of America” edited and published on its resources a video targeting Muslims in Pakistan to support presidential candidate Joe Biden.

GFCN explains: On July 22, 2020, The VOA’s Urdu language service, broadcasting for Urdu-speaking audiences in Pakistan, India and all around the world, posted a publication on its website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts about an online event Biden held addressing to Muslim Americans urging them to vote for him in November.

In the two-minute video with Urdu subtitles and overlaid music Biden says: “It matters, your voice, your voice is your vote. Muslim-American voices matter. I’ll be a president who seeks out and listens to and incorporates the ideas and concerns of Muslim-Americans on everyday issues that matter most to our communities. That will include having of Muslim-American voices as part of my administration.”

Careful viewers noticed that the video was re-edited and contained only excerpts from Biden’s actual speech, while in some fragments his voice is drowned out by loud music accompanied by Urdu subtitles. In addition, the video did not include a disclaimer that it was endorsed by Joe Biden or paid for by his campaign office, which is mandatory in political advertisements.

After external warnings Senior VOA officials reviewed the materials and found that it had violated the network’s editorial policy and ordered to delete it. In this way, VOA itself confirmed the fakelike nature of its stated operation principles.

Interference in the Nigerian gubernatorial election

Fake news: “Voice of America” adheres to the principles of non-interference in the political processes of countries, as declared in the organization’s charter.

Reality: “Voice of America” Nigeria supported gubernatorial candidate Aminu Tambuwal in 2020.

GFCN explains: “Voice of America Hausa” is the Nigerian affiliate of VOA, broadcasting in the language of Hausa, the most numerous ethnic group in Nigeria. In addition to covering local Nigerian news, the portal also publishes materials on events across the African continent.

In 2020, the head of VOAHausa, Aliyu Mustapha, was accused of promoting the Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal, who had won the election a year earlier. Mustapha is believed to have taken over as head of VOAHausa following a bribery scandal. In addition, contrary to VOA’s declared principles of non-interference, he influenced VOAHausa’s audience of about 20-million readers to promote the candidate. In return, Mustapha received help from Tambuwal to expand his influence in other states of the region.

A telling example is VOAHausa’s article about Amina Tambuwala in August 2016. The U.S. Secretary of State then held a meeting with five governors of northern Nigerian states. Nevertheless, only Tambuwal is mentioned in the VOA article.

GFCN expert, cofounder of Development and Cooperation for Africa (DevCA) Initiative, David

Okpatuma’s (Nigeria) comment:

“This exposé underscores critical questions about the intersection of international media, political influence, and journalistic integrity. While the investigation raises serious concerns, the nuanced examination of the context, evidence, and broader implications, speak to the fact that media outlets, regardless of their charter, which mandates adherence to factual, balanced reporting and prohibits promoting specific political agendas, have been seen to engage in practices that challenges this principle. Therefore, the timely and expedient need to ensure neutral adherence, and hold media outlets to higher standards of transparency, accountability, objectivity and balance in the carrying out of their mandated duties, not just the whims and caprices of political directives.”

Blocking of the “Voice of America“ in Turkey

Fake news: VOA was blocked in Turkey due to severe Turkish censorship.

Reality: Ankara Civil Court has restricted access to VOA’s online resources because of their refusal to apply for a license to publish news online.

GFCN explains: 01.07.2022, Ankara Civil Court restricted access to VOA’s online resources due to their refusal to apply for a license to publish news online. The regulator itself stated that in detail. VOA had time to apply for a license, but they failed to meet the necessary requirements.

Following this, VOA Turkey wrote about the blocking of the website, calling it a “disturbing choice in favor of censorship”.

Then VOA tried to bypass the system and created a new website domain, transferring the entire publication archive to it. But this website did not receive a license either and was blocked in 2023.

Despite the fact that the legality of the blocking decision was upheld in court, Voice of America chose to ignore the obvious references to the laws of the Republic of Turkey and continued to write about the decision in the context of violating democratic principles and censorship:

VOA acting director Yolanda Lopez said: “VOA will continue to object to any requirement by Turkish regulators — or regulators in any country where we provide news and information — that smacks of attempts to censor our news coverage. We will take every step necessary to avoid any interference by anyone that threatens the VOA’s ability to deliver on its mission.”

Other media outlets with an agenda similar to VOA also reacted to the resource being taken down. For example, TurkishMinute, whose headquarters are in Germany (a project of the “International Journalist Association” for “independent” journalists) published several articles critical of Turkey, including the US State Department’s reaction to the blocking of resources in Turkey — all in the context of legal and human rights violations.

Thus, due to the failure to fulfill the condition of obtaining a license to operate in Turkey, a fake was spread that the activities of VOA in that country were blocked due to censorship, although in fact this is not the case.

Silencing atrocities in Ethiopia

Fake news: “Voice of America” adheres to the principles of objectivity in reporting, that declared in the charter of the organization.

Reality: VOA’s coverage of Ethiopia biased in favor of Abiy Ahmed’s government.

GFCN explains: In May 2021, several former employees accused the Amharic VOA service, led by Negussie Mengesha, of bias in favor of Abiy Ahmed’s government, including failing to report on atrocities committed during the Tigray war.

VOA reporter Jason Patinkin was even forced to leave the service, saying VOA had “sided with criminals through both action and inaction” of “potential crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and perhaps even genocide.”

In June 2021, the Mail & Guardian reported on an investigation based on “hundreds of internal memos and interviews with about a dozen former and current members” of the VOA Horn of Africa service. The Mail & Guardian said that during the Tigris war, VOA was the only major foreign news service that was not harassed by Ethiopian security services.

Journalists identify Negussi Mengesha, who until recently was head of VOA’s Africa division, as the man who oversaw VOA’s transformation into a pro-Ethiopian propaganda body. Negussi joined the Horn of Africa Service in 1982, the year of its founding.

For decades, VOA’s Amharic service became famous for its criticism of the Ethiopian government. Then, in October 2018, Negussi met with Abiy. Accompanied by Tizita, they had what he called an hour-long “off-the-record” conversation. Since then, VOA’s reporting has moved away from covering any anti-government stance.

Instead of covering atrocities and killings, VOA chose to give extensive coverage to pro-government rallies by Ethiopians living outside the homeland. It also reported on a dinner party organized by Ethiopians in the U.S. to raise funds for their army.

In addition, it was revealed that during the Tigray war period, most (81%) of the stories proposed by journalists that included the Tigrayan perspective were not approved by the Horn of Africa Service chief editors. In other cases, the publication opened stories about the war by describing it as “what the government calls a law and order operation.”

Thus, during the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the “Voice of America”, which claims to be unbiased, whitewashed Ethiopian government atrocities in its coverage and broadcasted propaganda in its favor, violating its own principles of objectivity and non-interventionism, proving them to be fake.

Conslusion

In this article, we have reviewed just a few examples demonstrating the use of disinformation in the materials of the “Voice of America”. Despite the stated principles of objectivity and non-interference, in practice they are often violated, which calls into question the impartiality of this media.

However, it is important to take into account that such a large media structure can attract the attention of not only the United States, but also other actors in the international arena. We are still yet to see what position the European Union will take regarding the “Voice of America” and whether it will decide to integrate this resource into its media policy. The future will show whether the media outlet will maintain its current modus operandi or undergo a transformation under the influence of new factors.