From Overseas Press

US spy operation to manipulate social media

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-03-30 17:26

The US military is developing a software that will allow it to use fake social media personas as a pro-American propaganda tool, said an article in the Guardian on March 17.

Once developed, said the article, the software, which is described as an "online persona management service," will make it possible for "one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world" to influence Internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda. "The software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of coordinated messages, blog posts, chat room posts and other interventions."

Bill Speaks, spokesman for the US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, said the social media "interventions" would not be written in English and are not targeting any US-based websites. "The technology supports classified blogging activities on foreign-language websites to enable Centcom to counter violent extremist and enemy propaganda outside the US."

According to the article, the software is thought to be part of a program called Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), "which was first developed in Iraq as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of al-Qaida supporters and others ranged against coalition forces." General David Petraeus, former commander of Centcom, described the operation as an effort to "counter extremist ideology and propaganda and to ensure that credible voices in the region are heard".

But critics complain that it will "allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives."

The US military's practice of developing false online personas could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organizations to follow suit.