US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered the State Department to return to Times New Roman for all official documents, reversing the switch to Calibri made under the Biden administration. Rubio stated that Times New Roman is “more formal” and that the new standard will now apply to all internal and external documents of the Department.

“Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality,” Rubio told The Associated Press. He added, “This formatting standard aligns with the president’s One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations directive, underscoring the Department’s responsibility to present a unified and professional voice in all communications.”

After the development went viral, netizens expressed criticism and mockery of the decision. One user wrote: “This is beyond stupid.” Another commented: “Such small worries.”

A third said: “Man manages what he has the skills, scope and fortitude to manage.” A fourth added: “Rubio’s first act as Secretary of State: Making life harder for dyslexic people to own bookstores. Pathetic.”

Amid the backlash, a State Department spokesman defended the change, saying it is key to ensuring official communications reflect dignity, consistency and formality. The spokesman said: “Aligning the (state) department’s practice with this standard ensures that our communications reflect the same dignity, consistency and formality expected in official government correspondence.”

Rubio’s predecessor, Antony Blinken, adopted the Calibri font in 2023, citing the greater accessibility of the sans-serif font to the visually impaired, according to the BBC. Lucas de Groot, Calibri’s designer, described the move as “sad” and “hilarious.” He explained, “Calibri was designed to be easier to read on modern computer screens, it was chosen to replace TNR, the typeface that Rubio now wants to return to.”

Times New Roman is a serif typeface created by The Times of London in 1932 and has become one of the most widely used fonts worldwide. Calibri, a sans-serif typeface released in 2007 as part of Microsoft’s ClearType collection, is known for its high readability on modern screens.