The United States is auditing its information warfare practices online after fake accounts run by the military were removed by social media platforms for violating their policies, The Washington Post reported on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) The United States is auditing its information warfare practices online after fake accounts run by the military were removed by social media platforms for violating their policies, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl ordered an audit of the Pentagon's information warfare activities online after the Biden administration expressed concerns about their purported manipulation of foreign audiences, the report said, citing several defense and administration officials familiar with the matter.
Last month, internet research company Graphika alongside the Stanford Internet Observatory disclosed the removal of over 150 fake Twitter and Facebook (banned in Russia as an extremist organization) accounts created in the US, which were promoting pro-US narratives over the past two to three years, including anti-Russia narratives in recent months.
In 2019, Congress passed a law allowing the Pentagon to conduct operations in the information environment in an effort to address foreign information operations online.
The researchers did not officially connect the accounts to the Pentagon, but US Central Command (Centcom) is among the organizations under audit for their information operations online, two officials familiar with the matter reportedly said.
In 2020, Facebook also disabled fake accounts created by Centcom to counter Chinese narratives asserting that the US was responsible for the creation of the novel coronavirus, the report said.
Officials within the State and Defense Departments worry that the use of fake accounts to promote narratives favorable to the US could harm the country's credibility even if such practices are authorized under US law, several officials said, according to the report.
A draft of the Pentagon's review of information warfare practices found that more oversight and training is needed, the report also said, citing US officials. The review concluded that although fake military accounts shared false information in some cases, they were the result of inadequate oversight and training, not systemic problems, the officials also reportedly said.
However, the Graphika-Stanford report also found that information activities conducted by clandestine accounts were less impactful than accounts that overtly declared their connection to the US, which garnered more online engagement.
State Department officials have requested their Defense Department colleagues not amplify US policy positions using fake accounts over concerns about losing the "moral high ground" to adversaries in information warfare tactics, the report also said.
