Government Propaganda on Social Media
Vice Motherboard has an interesting article about governments using social-media platforms for propaganda and surveillance, and the companies that are supporting this.
Comments
R. • November 22, 2016 4:57 PM
We already know this from the Snowden disclosures: disrupt, degrade, deny etc
Ross Snider • November 22, 2016 5:21 PM
Hurray! Some reporting on this that doesn’t merely accuse other countries, implying the US doesn’t.
I’ve been waiting over a decade for that.
Important things to know:
1. This is being and has been widely practiced inside and outside the United States since the Clinton era, to greater and greater technological effect.
2. The new term for propaganda is “Strategic Communications” not “Psychological Operations”. Theres subtle differences between terms, which also include “Public Diplomacy” and “Information Support”. Broadly speaking all of these mean ‘coordinated messaging to influence populations to achieve desired outcomes’ but may have different audiences, avenues and technologies in mind.
3. The next generation of technologies for propaganda in social media is being studied by the DoD/DARPA SMISC (Social Media in Strategic Communication) project.
Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 • November 22, 2016 8:00 PM
Yellow Journalism/propaganda is also secretly generated by the USA industrial/military complex against USA citizens:
“The revised 2013 law gives sweeping powers to the government to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public. “It removes the protection for Americans,” says a Pentagon official who is concerned about the law. “It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information. There are no checks and balances. No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false.”
Good luck Google, Snoops and Facebook fact-checking the government (whatever we spew is the unquestionable truth)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/congressmen-seek-to-lift-propaganda-ban
NSA 'Deconfliction Units' on SecondLife(tm) • November 22, 2016 9:01 PM
I’m still waiting for the media to investigate further the NSA ‘Deconfliction Units’ that Snowden revealed were roving around the Second Life(tm) metaverse. I figured that revelation ushered in a new era of expectation of state propaganda trolls until proven otherwise.
EvilKiru • November 23, 2016 2:54 AM
@NSA…: So your saying that some agents came up with a way to play in Second Life on the job without getting in trouble for it?
Tracking Individual Identities • November 23, 2016 5:15 AM
“Media Miser extracts and filters data on a particular topic as soon as it is posted online. Tools developed by the NRC process this content in real time by translating and summarising the data. The information is then assigned various ratings and descriptions: a tone rating (positive, negative, neutral); signs of emotion (anger, fear, etc.); the geographic location of the source; and the identities of the individuals or groups involved in the making and distributing the content.”
The new British all-intrusive mass surveillance program allows them to break into American citizens computers then (using plausible deniability) share the data with the Americans. Of course they are under contract with the NSA – but that is classified!
There is no due process preventing innocent citizens from forever being put on secret govt lists used for administrative justice.
It is a top priority to identify posters and take action when necessary. In one glaring example, Julian Assange’s London Internet access was cut-off by the democrat USA administration fearing the unvarnished truth.
Another causality is citizens being able to responsible post anonymously.
The Military section of Business Insider had obvious propaganda exchanges between Russian and Five Eyes intelligence personnel. Their hatred was both palatable and entertaining!
Because the propaganda fight is too obvious, BI removed ALL anonymous comments forever, no doubt under the direction of government contractor Jeff Bezos.
Will this post be analyzed and saved forever with a few minutes of posting? Without a doubt.
The ultimate canary will be when Bruce Schneier’s blog is pressured to require a Facebook or Google login.
The only solution is that Donald Trump will be able to drastically reduce the budgets of those who have turned upon the freedoms guaranteed in the USA Constitution.
Is there hope for mankind? If not, we can only pray for deliverance.
Kevin P • November 23, 2016 6:40 PM
@ R., “We already know this from the Snowden disclosures: disrupt, degrade, deny etc”
..and blame it on the Russians. 😉
ab praeceptis • November 23, 2016 6:52 PM
Kevinsky Pkov
..and blame it on the Russians.
How dare you?! Trustworthy sources who prefer to stay anonymous (clintons secretary) have found PROOF it was them damn russkies! Each and every breach was signed with “yours truly, the KGB”.
Moreover the IP from where the attacks came always had a 1 or a 2 in it. And everybody knows that IPs with a 1 or a 2 in it are russian.
Btw, them russkies were also behind the big earth quake in new york. There was no earthquake in new-york, you say? Just another proof how tricky and devilish them KGB russkies are, I say.
NSA... • November 23, 2016 8:15 PM
@EvilKiru
Sadly, yes, I suppose that is what I’m saying. I’m still trying to figure out how they got away with it. Of course I’m more worried about the likelyhood of their getting away with doing the same thing trolling in comments in places like this.
anonymous • November 24, 2016 7:45 PM
I’ll summarise my message for you; stop spending billions of taxpayer dollars a year attacking taxpayers. Spend it on increasing computer security instead of decreasing it.
Anotymous • November 25, 2016 2:36 AM
Just adding to the noise.
It’s one thing to hoover up the internet, but what’s the point if it is meaningless garbage? The fact this is meaningless garbage will cause it to be analyzed for the possible existence of a hidden meaning or motive. There isn’t one, besides “it could be done.”
It is surprising that “anonymous” access to the internet is still permitted. Maybe that is too Orwellian, even for “them.”
Well Poisoned • November 25, 2016 3:21 PM
“It is surprising that “anonymous” access to the internet is still permitted. Maybe that is too Orwellian, even for “them.””
Perhaps things are not as simple as you imply.
A permit to access the internet or a permit to use it anonymously?
I am permitted to drive my car, I get permits to park at the park.
Are we permitten or permitted? Perchance per collation per suede
Clive Robinson • December 1, 2016 6:01 AM
@ Moderator,
The above from “Emily cara” has a high probability of being unwanted advertising, judging by the link and the poor english.
Permitten • February 24, 2017 5:01 PM
@r
A permit to access the internet or a permit to use it anonymously?
I am permitted to drive my car, I get permits to park at the park.
Are we permitten or permitted? Perchance per collation per suede
A better analogy is needing a permit to read news that isn’t government-sponsored, needing a permit to write, or needing a permit to go to the library(so the list of books you’ve read can be used to tell if you’re critical of the government).
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
David • November 22, 2016 3:17 PM
Does government propaganda count as some of this ‘fake news’ about which we keep hearing?