Exposure! See how the United States uses the Internet to spread disinformation

According to the New York Times, Western social media such as Facebook and Twitter "discovered and cleared for the first time an influential action overseas to promote U.S. interests" in July and August this year. Citing a study titled "Five Years of Pro-Western Secret Influence Operations" jointly released by the Stanford Internet Observatory and social networking analytics firm Grafika, the report pointed out that "in the past five years, the 'influence action' has been aimed at promoting U.S. views, values, and goals, while attacking countries such as Russia, China, and Iran." ”

Analysts pointed out that the deletion of "pro-US" accounts by Western social media is surprising, but through the essence of the phenomenon, its measures to eliminate accounts are actually to avoid the proliferation of fake accounts and affect commercial interests. What really deserves attention in this incident is that the so-called "influence action" exposes the tip of the iceberg of the United States, the "empire of lies", which uses the Network to systematically carry out false information propaganda against China, Russia and other countries, as well as the Middle East, Central Asia and other regions. In recent years, the United States has become the world's largest disseminator of disinformation, both in the real world and in cyberspace.

The proliferation of accounts affects the business value of the company

According to The New York Times, social media facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter recently purged an "impact initiative" from their platforms.

The "impact action" was exposed in July and August this year, when Twitter and Meta (The parent company of Facebook) deleted array accounts. Twitter said the accounts violated their policy on "platform manipulation and spam," while Meta said the accounts were involved in "coordinated bogus behavior." For example, some accounts posted what they called "food shortages caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in Central Asian countries" and cheered for pro-Ukrainian protests in those places. A group of accounts aimed at Middle Eastern audiences praised USAID's work in Iraq and discussed so-called "positive interactions" between U.S. troops and Syrian children.

Meta believes that the source of these accounts is the United States, and Twitter judges that it is from the United States and the United Kingdom. The researchers also observed evidence that the U.S. military may be related to this.

According to a recent study jointly released by the Stanford Internet Observatory and social networking analytics firm Grafika, dozens of fake accounts associated with "Action Influence" have been dedicated to promoting pro-Western rhetoric on the Internet in an attempt to discredit countries including China, Russia and Iran over the past five years.

To promote the narrative, the accounts sometimes share articles from U.S. government-funded media outlets or links to U.S. military-sponsored websites with the intent to reveal them.

While it is rare for Western social media to remove "pro-American" accounts, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter are not deviating from the United States, but for commercial gain.

The proliferation of accounts used for disinformation has affected the commercial value of the companies behind these social media. In the acquisition dispute between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter, Musk claimed that he gave up the acquisition of Twitter because of the flood of fake accounts. According to the Wall Street Journal, a court document disclosed on August 29 showed that Musk's legal team recently summoned Twitter's former security chief in the hope that it could provide documents and communication records about Twitter's fake account and security vulnerabilities.

What is really worth paying attention to and soberingly about the deletion of "pro-US" accounts by Western social media is that the so-called "influence action" exposes the tip of the iceberg of the United States using the Network to systematically carry out false information propaganda against China, Russia and other countries, as well as the Middle East, Central Asia and other regions.

Concocting and disseminating false information has a long history

At a hearing in the U.S. Congress this year, Senator Rand Paul bluntly said: "Do you know who is the biggest disinformation communicator in the world?" U.S. Government. ”

Whether in the real world or in cyberspace, the United States has become the world's largest disseminator of disinformation.

This so-called "influence action" is a small witch compared with the vast amount of disinformation propaganda carried out by the United States in cyberspace. However, the means used are much the same.

The New York Times reported that researchers found that over the past five years, the accounts used by Operation Influence have often impersonated news outlets or used false identities to publish content in at least seven languages, including Russian, Arabic and Urdu. In addition, these fake accounts often post links to fake media sites and "sources linked to the U.S. military," such as a Central Asian website that claims that U.S. Central Command is a sponsor.

The researchers also disclosed that the accounts tailored their language and information for different regions. For example, some accounts use names such as "Oriental Pravda" to impersonate the media. There was also an account that modified a photo of Puerto Rican actress Valeria Menendes to use as a profile photo to create a fictitious identity.

In fact, the US government's disinformation propaganda in cyberspace is nothing new, and its means and paths have been exposed many times.

For example, the U.S. government instructed news organizations managed by the U.S. International Media Agency to produce so-called news reports and "propaganda materials" in dozens of languages, and coordinated the reprinting of allied media outlets; Providing heavy funds to fund the "technology investment" of the US Internet media, on the one hand, weakening and blocking real information, on the other hand, "opening plug-ins" and "equipping equipment" for the dissemination of false information. In this chain of spreading false information, the so-called "scholars", the media, the Internet, and the official government of the United States lie to each other as suppliers and consumers of raw materials, and the false information products produced have become an excuse for the US government to sanction, pressure, and interfere with other countries.

From the reports of multinational media around the world and the reports of many research institutions, we can see the clues of the United States' false information propaganda in cyberspace in recent years.

During the 2020 pandemic, thousands of accounts linked to the REPUBLICAN Party and right-wing forces in the United States frantically forwarded conspiracy theories to frame China, but the move was revealed by a report released by the Australian Research Institute. Through data tracking, the researchers found that 5752 accounts repeatedly forwarded rumors about the "new crown virus" in a short period of time. Many of the users who forward rumors are "bot" accounts that are remotely controlled. Most of these forwards are fast forwards within a second, and some are forwards within a minute.

The U.S. reputation account has long been running a deficit

The German writer Ludez pointed out in his book "Pseudo-Saint America" that the US government is very good at confusing right and wrong and influencing public judgment by selecting and distorting facts, deliberately narrowing news sources, and polarizing people's judgments. "When the waters are muddy, it's easy to reap geopolitical and economic benefits."

In recent years, China, Cuba, Iran, Russia and other countries have become the target of the United States' deliberate efforts to concoct disinformation in the real world and cyberspace.

In 2021, Cuba experienced its worst economic crisis in 30 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the tightening of sanctions in the United States. On July 11 of the same year, mass demonstrations broke out in several Cuban cities, including the capital Havana. After investigation by the Cuban Government, it was found that there were close ties with United States government agencies behind the demonstrations, of which the United States Government's "pawn" National Endowment for Democracy played an important role. In the weeks leading up to the demonstrations, anti-Cuban government messages on social media began to proliferate, effectively manipulating popular sentiment, creating discontent and spurring protests; A few days before the demonstrations, a large number of anti-Cuban government posts were suddenly forwarded and liked by new accounts on Twitter.

After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, the United States spread false information against China one after another on the Ukrainian issue in an attempt to pass on contradictions, provoke confrontation, and take advantage of opportunities to make profits.

However, the more the US government tries to create rumors and slander and render operations, the more it will let the international community see clearly the accumulated deficit of its credit account.

Regarding the bottomless concoctment and dissemination of false information by the United States in cyberspace to frame other countries, some allies of the United States are no longer following the trend and are unwilling to endorse such a practice that violates international credibility and morality.

On May 26, 2021, the European Commission issued policy guidelines on strengthening the EU Code of Conduct against Disinformation, requiring Internet platforms such as Google and Facebook to increase anti-disinformation efforts.

As we all know, from "laundry detergent" to "white helmets", from gibberish about the origin of the epidemic to fabricating lies related to Xinjiang, the US government, as the world's largest spreader of false information, has never stopped using concocted lies to hoodwink the world and whitewash the self-proclaimed "face of justice". However, these tricks have gradually been recognized by many countries in the world. The US government engages in false information propaganda, leaving only a bad name that cannot be washed away. As Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, the US side should stop fabricating and disseminating false information and no longer be proud of the "empire of lies."

Source: Rule of Law Daily