US terminates funds for anti-Iran Twitter feed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says it’s terminated support for an online project aimed at fighting Iranian disinformation after it tweeted harsh criticism of individual human rights workers, academics and journalists, some of whom are U.S. citizens.

The head of the department’s Global Engagement Center tells Congress that funding for the contractor that ran the @IranDisinfo Twitter feed has been eliminated. The funding had been suspended last month pending a review of the tweets in question. Lea Gabrielle said Wednesday that a review determined the tweets violated the terms of the State Department’s agreement with the contractor. She said it was never the intention to target Americans.

Congress created the Global Engagement Center to run online efforts to combat extremism, but the center has now branched out to counter foreign government propaganda.