Laws regulating foreign interference in India and the United States are increasingly being used to threaten press freedom and independent civil society groups, according to experts interviewed by Coda Story. 

Last week the U.S. Department of Justice ordered an affiliate of Al Jazeera to register as an agent of the Qatari government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

Today, the Indian parliament passed an amendment to its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, or FCRA, which added draconian restrictions on the activities of Indian organizations which receive funding abroad. Rights activists and critics see the amendment as a politically motivated attack by the government on dissenting voices.

Both developments fit into a wider worldwide pattern: a 2019 Amnesty International report described laws against foreign interference in domestic affairs and laws restricting foreign funding as key tools states have increasingly used in a “global crackdown on civil society organizations” over the last decade.