Fact check: USAID money was being funneled inside the United States to fund local projects, such as progressive videogames.

1. Summary of the results

The claim about USAID funding progressive videogames within the United States is demonstrably incorrect based on multiple sources. While USAID has been mentioned in connection with gaming sites, this was only in the context of a "Disinformation Primer" discussing potential sources of misinformation ^[1]. The only USAID-funded project among those criticized was actually a workplace diversity program in Serbia, not a domestic gaming initiative ^{[2] [3]}.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several important contextual elements are missing from the original statement:

• USAID is primarily an international development agency focused on foreign aid and humanitarian assistance, not domestic projects ^[3]
• Most controversial projects cited in similar claims were actually funded by the State Department, not USAID ^[3]
• These State Department initiatives were primarily focused on cultural diplomacy and exchange programs ^[2]
• The claims about USAID funding controversial projects, including a "transgender comic book in Peru," have been widely circulated on social media but are false ^[4]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original statement appears to be part of a larger pattern of misinformation about USAID spending:

• Expert Rachel Bonnifield from the Center for Global Development has noted that there's "a lot of false and misleading information being circulated" about USAID's spending ^[2]
• The Trump administration highlighted four projects as "wasteful," but investigation revealed that only one was actually USAID-funded ^[2]
• Most accusations about USAID's spending were either exaggerated or completely false ^[5]
• The narrative benefits those seeking to criticize foreign aid spending and international development programs, as it creates controversy around USAID's legitimate international development work
• The misrepresentation of State Department cultural diplomacy programs as USAID domestic spending suggests a deliberate attempt to conflate different types of government spending to create controversy