Pentagon to review ‘psychological operations’ – media — Analysis
This is after the Washington Post reported that fake accounts believed to have been created by the US military were deleted from social media platforms.
US Military is ready to Conduct a “sweeping audit”Multiple sources have told The Post about the Pentagon’s clandestine operations in psychological warfare. They also raised concerns that it might have used fake social media handles for manipulating foreign audiences.
Colin Kahl is the US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. He has given orders to military commands that they offer an alternative. “full accounting” of their psychological warfare activities within a month’s time, according to a Monday Post report, which cited multiple unnamed administration and Pentagon officials familiar with the matter.
“The message was essentially, ‘You have to justify to me why you’re doing these types of things,’” one official said, describing Kahl’s directive.
According to reports, the White House was concerned about the order. “the Defense Department’s attempted manipulation of audiences overseas”Use social media after 150 false accounts were removed by Facebook and Twitter “covert influence operations.”Researchers at Graphika, Stanford Internet Observatory and a report highlighting the alleged pushing of online networks revealed that these takedowns had been made public. “pro-Western,”Anti-Russia and other politicized narratives
While the study did not pin blame on any particular actors for the fake accounts, two officials told the Post that US CENTCOM – the combatant command which oversees forces in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia – “is among those whose activities are facing scrutiny”Its influence operations.
CENTCOM did not comment on the possibility that any suspicious accounts had been created by contractors or personnel, however one official said such behaviour would be unacceptable. “absolutely be a violation of doctrine and training practices.”
According to the report, in 2020 employees from Facebook and Twitter contacted the US military about fake accounts that they thought were linked to the Pentagon. The incident reportedly prompted David Agranovich, Facebook’s head of ‘global threat disruption,’ to warn defense officials that if Facebook was able to detect the inauthentic behavior, “so could US adversaries.”
Air Force Brig., reached out to by the Post. According to Gen. Patrick Ryder military information ops “support our national security priorities,”But it should be legal and added “We are committed to enforcing those safeguards.”
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