Zemlya Nasha published a fabricated report claiming USAID misspent funds on “posts, likes and reposts” opposing the annexation of Crimea

Washington is shutting down 83% of programs run by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on March 10, 2025, summarizing the results of a review of the agency’s work. The audit was conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.

Nine days later, on March 19, the authors of the Telegram channel Zemlya Nasha published a screenshot suggesting that USAID had spent a large sum to simulate widespread opposition to the annexation of Crimea on social media.

“Elon Musk shared some interesting information — turns out, USAID spent $3.4 billion on ‘posts, likes and reposts on social media’ aimed against Crimea’s return to Russia. As we’ve seen over the past eleven years, it had no real impact — for the most part, people in Crimea paid little attention to USAID’s messaging,” read the caption under the screenshot.

The screenshot posted on the Telegram channel stylistically resembles the layout of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency website. The agency’s website features reposts from its official X account. The WTF team found only one post mentioning “USAID” on the DOGE site — a repost of Marco Rubio’s statement about cutting 83% of the agency’s programs.

U.S. media have not reported that DOGE or Elon Musk accused USAID of spending billions of dollars on likes and reposts opposing the annexation of Crimea. The claim is being spread across Russian-language resources.