Twitter reportedly aided the Pentagon’s covert propaganda campaign
Social media giant Twitter has reportedly aided the US military with a secret “PsyOp” campaign, the latest “Twitter Files” thread revealed the inner workings of former Twitter handler Elon Musk on Tuesday.
“Despite promises to shut down clandestine state-run propaganda networks, Twitter documents show that the social media giant directly aided the US military’s influence operations,” tweeted investigative journalist Li Fang of The Intercept.
Fang’s revelations are the latest in a series of internal Twitter documents and communications released by the platform’s new CEO.
Fang said Musk had “no input” on his report, which detailed how Twitter worked with the Pentagon despite Twitter claiming for years that they “make a concerted effort to expose and thwart government-backed platform manipulation.”
“But behind the scenes, Twitter gave approval and special protection for the US military’s online psychological influence operations,” Fang continued in his thread. “Despite knowledge that the Pentagon’s propaganda accounts used secret identities, Twitter has not suspended many of them for two years or more. Some are still active.”
Fang said Twitter worked in conjunction with the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to give the US military the status of blue check verification.
The US Central Command accounts on the list have repeatedly tweeted about US military priorities in the Middle East, including peddling anti-Iranian messages, promoting the Saudi- and US-backed war in Yemen, and “precision” US drone strikes that it claimed hit Only terrorists.” Fang revealed.
Fang added that a Twitter official told him he felt “cheated” by the secret transformation.
“Numerous emails throughout 2020 still show that high-level Twitter executives were well aware of the DoD’s vast network of fake accounts and covert propaganda and did not suspend the accounts,” Fang said, referring to the Department of Defense.
Musk shared the Fang story on Twitter as he did other “Twitter Profile” reports.
“yes!” Musk tweeted.