The State Department is looking for help teaching Ukrainians how to confront “disinformation” through competitive video games, according to a grant listing published Tuesday.
The program will both teach Ukrainians how to become more competent at playing video games and will provide them with “counter disinformation/conflict resolution training to confront foreign propaganda and disinformation in competitive online gaming spaces,” according to the grant posting. Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, the State Department has initiated a broader push to fight what it deems to be disinformation, sometimes by funding organizations that work to censor conservatives.
Grant materials published by the State Department do not detail specifically how training Ukrainians to play video games will combat “disinformation,” but the program seeks to leverage “the popularity and penetration of video games in Eastern Europe” to “develop an eSports program” that will achieve the program’s goals. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Grills Feds Over $66 Million In Taxpayer Dollars Going Toward Policing ‘Misinformation’)
“eSports,” short for electronic sports, typically refers to organized multiplayer video game competitions featuring professional gamers and large audiences.
Ukrainian “eSports athletes” will receive federally-funded “professional training” in order to “form a talent pipeline to professional teams in Ukraine,” according to the solicitation. The program will culminate in a video game tournament.
The State Department’s Ukrainian eSports disinformation program will cost taxpayers $250,000, according to the grant listing.
In April 2022, the State Department posted a similar grant solicitation seeking to use competitive video games to push gender equality in India.
“We are protecting the global information space by exposing and disrupting Russian disinformation campaigns around the world. We unmasked their operation in Latin America and are now exposing their latest operation in Africa” – Special Envoy James Rubinhttps://t.co/46heBbaxC1
— Global Engagement Center (@TheGEC) February 12, 2024
The State Department has previously sought to combat “disinformation” by funding pro-censorship organizations.
The department funded the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British organization that provides a blacklist to advertising companies with the aim of getting them to pull ads from news outlets it accuses of disinformation. Outlets flagged by GDI for disinformation included the New York Post, the Daily Wire, and Newsmax.
GDI’s CEO once bragged that their blacklist has “had a significant impact on the advertising revenue” on the websites it flags, according to the Washington Examiner.
Many of the State Department’s recent awards and grant solicitations have been aimed at influencing members of the media in foreign countries to make them more adept at confronting what the State Department deems to be disinformation, federal records show.
The State Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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