The Trump administration has launched mass layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and other U.S.-funded media organizations, effectively cutting off major international broadcasting services.

The move, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP) which began Sunday, has put the future of these outlets in jeopardy.

On Saturday, all VOA employees were placed on administrative leave. A day later, contract workers received an email notifying them that their employment would be terminated at the end of March.

The email, which was confirmed by multiple employees, stated, "You must cease all work immediately and are not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems."

VOA relies heavily on contract employees, particularly in its non-English language services. Many of these workers are not U.S. citizens and may face visa complications with the loss of their jobs.

While full-time employees have not been immediately dismissed, they remain on leave and have been instructed not to work.

According to AFP, Liam Scott, a VOA journalist covering press freedom and disinformation, confirmed that he had also been notified of his dismissal.

"The Trump administration's destruction of VOA and sister outlets are part of its efforts to dismantle the government more broadly, but it's also part of the administration's broader assault on press freedom and the media," he wrote on X.

"I've covered press freedom for a long time, and I've never seen something like what's happened in the U.S. over the past couple of months."

VOA, which was established during World War II, broadcasts in 49 languages to regions lacking independent media. With the layoffs, some of its services have been reduced to playing music in place of regular programming.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order targeting VOA’s parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), as part of broader efforts to shrink the federal government.

The agency, which had 3,384 employees in the last fiscal year, had requested $950 million in funding for the current year.

Other U.S.-funded broadcasters affected by the cuts include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which was founded during the Cold War to reach Soviet bloc nations, and Radio Free Asia, which provides news in regions with heavy media restrictions such as China and North Korea.

Additional cuts have hit Radio Farda, which broadcasts in Persian and is often blocked by Iran, and Alhurra, an Arabic-language network established after the Iraq invasion.

The White House defended the cuts in a statement, saying, "Taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda."

Previous administrations have rarely accused VOA, which has long countered authoritarian narratives, of such bias.

Trump has frequently attacked media organizations, questioning the purpose of funding VOA, which operates with editorial independence under a "firewall."

With guidance from tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump has vowed to downsize the government to facilitate tax cuts.

His administration has already moved to end most foreign development assistance and significantly weaken the Education Department.

The cuts come as China and Russia expand their state-funded media presence globally, offering free content to developing nations.

Meanwhile, China’s state-run Global Times reacted to VOA’s decline by stating, "The monopoly of information held by some traditional Western media is being shattered."

The editorial further claimed, "As more Americans begin to break through their information cocoons and see a real world and a multidimensional China, the demonizing narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times."