Conservative critics have long accused the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub of helping to censor the American right.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio put about 40 employees on leave who had tracked disinformation by China, Russia, Iran and terrorist groups.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he was shutting down a State Department office that had sought to counter foreign disinformation, accusing it of censorship and wasting U.S. taxpayer money.