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Musk calls for shutting down US-funded outlets Radio Free Europe, Voice of America

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Musk calls for shutting down US-funded outlets Radio Free Europe, Voice of America
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: A sign marks the location of the Voice of America (VOA) and Broadcasting Board of Governors headquarters building on January 29, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)

Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Feb. 9 called for shutting down U.S.-funded media outlets Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.

Responding to comments by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell, Musk wrote on X: "Yes, shut them down. Europe is free now (not counting stifling bureaucracy). Nobody listens to them anymore. It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money."

"Radio Free Europe and Voice of America are media outlets paid for by the American taxpayers. It is state-owned media. These outlets are filled with far left activists," Grenell reportedly said on Feb. 9. "I’ve worked with these reporters for decades. It’s a relic of the past. We don’t need government paid media outlets."

Both Elon Musk and Richard Grenell have voiced strong opposition to government funding of media organizations, arguing that taxpayer money should not be used to support these outlets.

Musk, as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has criticized federal payments to media organizations like Politico, the Associated Press, and The New York Times, deeming them inefficient uses of taxpayer funds and moving to eliminate them.

Similarly, Grenell, as Trump’s special mission envoy, has publicly condemned government spending on media subscriptions, echoing Musk's stance that such funding should be terminated immediately.

These calls come amid broader scrutiny and controversy surrounding government-funded media, with the Trump administration taking steps to halt subscriptions to outlets like Politico.

US foreign aid transformed Ukraine. Its suspension threatens decades of work
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent isn’t a recipient of U.S. foreign aid, and its funding wasn’t affected by the aid freeze. With the stroke of a pen, U.S. President Donald Trump last week put a freeze on projects that have helped Ukraine become freer and
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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