Barack Obama signed an amendment in 2013 that changed the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act. This amendment made it possible for some materials created by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the nation’s foreign broadcasting agency, to be disseminated in the U.S. The change essentially eased restrictions for Americans who want to access government-funded media, which were previously banned from dissemination in the U.S.