Right, Left, Conservative, Liberal or Progressive. We might not be as divided as it seems.
Right, Left, Conservative, Liberal or Progressive. We might not be as divided as it seems.
Social media may be a distorted mirror on our society, molded by clandestine hands.
Source: Photo by Michael Starkie on Unsplash
Why does we feel so divided? It might not be as divided as it seems in the world of social media…
The birth of the military troll
In 2011, Jeff Jarvis of The Guardian uncovered that the US military was creating fake online accounts – or "sock puppets" – and was encouraging other governments, businesses, and NGOs to do the same. It was part of Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which was first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon.
Using this cyber troll program in the U.S. was prohibited… until 2013 when the Smith-Mundt Act was repealed. Before then, both the right and left agreed that propaganda should be kept out of America to distinguish the US "from the Soviet Union where domestic propaganda is a principal government activity."
As support for the war in Iraq waned, the anti-propaganda law was repealed. Supporters argued that allowing Americans to see American propaganda was a “victory for transparency.” The change “eased” restrictions on government-funded media content, making propaganda available to Americans “upon request.”
Almost immediately, programming that was distributed overseas was delivered to American audiences, including on-the-ground reporting in Iraq.
Within a year, Internet trolls smeared journalists who covered scandals involving the military or against the predominant narratives. "Today, the military is more focused on manipulating news and commentary on the Internet, especially social media, by posting material and images without necessarily claiming ownership," reported the Washington Post.
Winning hearts and minds, Globally
By 2015, the British Army announced that it created a new unit for psychological and social media warfare. They said that their ‘Twitter troops” would help Britain control the “narrative” of warfare. The brigade had 500 soldiers and mirrored the Israeli and US armies’ psychological operations as a key part of military strategy.
The US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia established the Five Eyes (FVEY) alliance, a cooperative intelligence network, in 1946. Today, the Five Eyes coordinate their online troll armies and monitor the electronic communications of their citizens and foreign governments. You see, FVEY members monitor the citizens of other FVEY member countries, FVEY bypassing domestic surveillance regulations. (That is what Snowden blew the whistle on in 2013.)
And the propaganda programs had grown substantially when, in 2019, Big Tech began focused on identifying and disclosing fake accounts and disinformation campaigns. Ironically, Wire reported that Twitter’s head of editorial for the Middle East identifying disinformation was also a part-time soldier in the UK’s “Twitter Army” of propaganda.
By 2021, Newsweek uncovered the Pentagon’s secret army of roughly 60,000 people in its program called "Signature Reduction." This program is more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA and engages roughly 130 companies—that pocket more than $900M—and hundreds from the NSA.
Unregulated, “Signature Reduction” carries out domestic and foreign assignments IRL and online, sometimes hiding in businesses and consultancies. The fastest growing unit is online with troops that assume false personas online, employ non-attribution and misattribution techniques, collect "publicly accessible information", and engage in campaigns to influence and manipulate social media.
Side note: How did “Signature Reduction” miss the Jan. 6 insurrection/riot/whatever-you-want-to-call-it?
How the NSA invests in media
Influencing news media is nothing new. Carl Bernstein detailed cooperation between the CIA and journalists—some of which were full-time CIA employees—in January 1977. In the article, Bernstein confirmed that some 400 American journalists had secretly carried out assignments for the CIA during the previous 25 years. He also identified the most valuable working relationships with the intelligence agency were with the New York Times, CBS, and Time Inc.
In 2014, a FOIA request by Ken Silverstein uncovered communications between the CIA and national security reporters sent from March to July 2012. That request turned up correspondence between the CIA’s press office and Ken Dilanian, then at the Los Angeles Times now at NBC; Adam Goldman, then at the AP and now at The New York Times; Matt Apuzzo, then at AP and now at The New York Times; Brian Bennett then of The Los Angeles Times and now at Time, Siobhan Gorman then of The Wall Street Journal; Scott Shane of the New York Times; and David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist.
Most notably, Dilanian routinely submitted drafts and detailed summaries of his stories to CIA press handlers before publication. In one correspondence, he asks a handler: “You wouldn’t put out disinformation on this, would you?”
Ummm… Isn’t that their job?
Anyways, we will probably never know the full extent of collusion because the CIA redacted most of their press handlers’ replies.
Responding to troll attack
Crossing the path of someone who wants to ridicule or humiliate us online is painful. Left alone, they can tarnish your brand or reputation.
But it is hard to know how to respond when it is hard to decipher if someone is genuine. Someone might simply be venting about a legitimate issue. They may see the world differently than you. Both are starting points for constructive conversation and debate.
On the other hand, trolls come in many shapes and sizes: bots, competitors, propagandists, employed military, intelligence agencies, or just your everyday-@sshole.
Here’s a couple of signs to spot a troll:
Account profile. The easiest to spot are anonymous accounts that constantly post and use bad spelling or grammar. But not all trolls look like trolls…
Dismissive, condescending tone. They state opinion as well-known facts, and chastise you for not “understanding” the nuances of a topic. “Do your research!”
Refusal to acknowledge evidence. Even when presented with facts, they respond as if none were presented.
Off-topic remarks. After ignoring facts, trolls change the subject when the facts do not serve them. “Look over there!”
Insults. Trolls reply with insults, memes, images, and gifs. This is especially true if done in response to a long text post. “Do better, idiot!”
Trolls want to anger you and/or make engagement uncomfortable for you. Here’s how you can hand them:
Stay cool. Simply walk away, or put the phone down. Relax.
Reply with facts. Do not engage in personal insults. Always include a link to a credible source.
Stay on topic. Do not follow a troll’s dodge. Restate that ignored fact, and ask which facts you may be missing.
Ignore. Don’t write anything back even if it’s clever.
Mute or block. You control your feed and can choose not to even see them at all. You could also give them a heads-up and give them Ragen Chastain’s advice on dealing with trolls.
How do you deal with trolls?