The insidious spread of 'foreign agent' laws

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

60% : In 2019, the law was expanded again to apply to individual journalists and bloggers.
50% : John W. McCormack, the Congressman who introduced the bill, hoped that it would expose such material "to the pitiless light of publicity," labeling it "just as the law requires us to label poison."
50% : After Georgia withdrew its foreign agent law, representatives of the EU, which Georgia has tried but so far failed to join, praised the decision and encouraged the country to adopt "pro-EU reforms."
49% : It now covers people and groups that are deemed to be under "foreign influence," not just those receiving foreign cash, as well as an expanded definition of "potential activities"; earlier this year, Meduza reported that officials were planning to apply the law to third parties who aid foreign agents -- willingly or not -- while the Moscow Times reported that the authorities already maintain a closed register of people deemed to be "affiliated" with foreign agents.
47% : FARA fell into relative disuse after the war -- between 1966 and 2015, the Department of Justice only pursued seven cases under the law -- but in the Trump era, it surged back to relevance, thanks in no small part to the Mueller investigation.
44% : In 2017, the broadcaster and seven of its subsidiary services, along with Voice of America, were tagged as foreign agents after the law was expanded to apply to media organizations; the following year, it was accused of a paperwork violation and hit with a fine that, while relatively small, was still characterized by RFE/RL's then-president as a "sharp new escalation."
41% : Hundreds of civil-society groups warned EU leaders that the proposals could have "unintended consequences" and end up undermining the bloc's democratic self-image abroad.
40% : Specifically, Kurmasheva has been charged with failing to register herself under the law.
36% : In 2021, amid a much broader crackdown on independent media using the law as a primary cudgel, RFE/RL racked up significant fines for hundreds of supposed violations.

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