Operation Earnest Voice
In the wake of the 2016 US presidential election, the world has been exposed to an enormous amount of press coverage focused on bots and sockpuppets. multiple government entities including the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Director of Intelligence, and the US Senate Intelligence Committee have concluded that Russia actively attempted to help Donald Trump become President of the United States.
This is a serious issue, and it is understandable that much contemporary coverage would be focused on Russia’s ongoing efforts to influence public opinion in the United States. However, it is a mistake to assume that Russia is the only nation that uses computational propaganda tool to shape popular opinion. Sockpuppets, bots, and propaganda are deployed by nations around the globe, including the United States, China, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
For example, consider the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) project known as “Operation Earnest Voice.” In March 2011, motivated by the realization that malicious actors were using digital networks “to plan, coordinate, recruit, train, equip, execute, and garner support for operations against the U.S., its allies, and interests,”1 Centcom commander James Mattis updated Congress about ‘persona management software’ that would help U.S. soldiers steer online conversations in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Mattis, the software could be used to amplify moderate voices while challenging extremist propaganda head-on.
The American technology company Ntrepid won a $2.7 million Centcom contract to create software that would make it easier for U.S. soldiers to steer different fake identities. Using this software, a single soldier could control up to 10 different online identities.
Writing about the contract in 2011, The Guardian observed that each fake identity was required to have “convincing background, history and supporting details” and up to 50 soldiers would be able to coordinate these personalities without fear of detection.2 The software would conceal the address of the soldier’s computer3, and it would feed the user information about time, weather and local news in the account’s pretend location. Alert readers might notice that “online persona” is a pleasant euphemism for “sockpuppet.”
It is important to emphasize that the U.S. military is forbidden, by law, from targeting propaganda at U.S. citizens. Centcom spokesperson Commander Bill Speaks explained that the online personal managers will interact with online users speaking Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and Pashto and these tactics would not be used on American citizens.4 Speaks also stated that the sockpuppets would not use American based platforms like Facebook and Twitter where it is against the terms of service to have fake accounts.
References
1 Lee, A. (2011, March 17) U.S. Military Launches Spy Operation Using Fake Online Identities. The Huffington Post.
2 Fielding, N., & Cobain, I. (2011, March 17) “Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media.” The Guardian.
3 Waterman, S. (2011, March 1) “U.S. Central Command ‘friending’ the enemy in psychological war: Software helps crack terror cells.” The Washington Times.
4 Fielding, N., & Cobain, I. (2011, March 17) “Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media.” The Guardian.