The State Department reportedly pressured African countries to adopt Elon Musk’s Starlink

After The Washington Post earlier this period revealed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had instructed the State Department to assistance Starlink grow successful bid to fend disconnected Chinese technological influence, an extensive ProPublica nonfiction published Thursday dove deeper into what those campaigns looked similar astatine the crushed level. According to cables sent betwixt the State Department and US embassies successful 4 processing countries successful Africa - Gambia, Djibouti, Cameroon and Lesotho - diplomats person been arranging meetings with Starlink executives and overseas regulators and pushing them to fast-track licensing agreements for the outer net company, arsenic a motion of "friendship" with the United States.

Should those countries garbage to determination faster, those diplomats warn, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - the Musk bureau liable for monolithic occupation and fund cuts passim the authorities - mightiness abruptly people programs and funds earmarked for their countries.

Shortly aft Trump's inauguration, Sharon Cromer, the U.S. ambassador to Gambia, held a gathering with Lamin Jabbi, the caput of Gambia's communications ministry, astir speeding up regulatory support for Starlink. …

Read the afloat communicative astatine The Verge.