The “Cuban Twitter” Scam Is a Drop in the Internet Propaganda Bucket

The Associated Press exposed a secret program run by the US Agency for International Development to create “a Twitter-like Cuban communications network” run through “secret shell companies” in order to create the false appearance of being a privately owned operation.

Unbeknownst to the service’s Cuban users was the fact that “American contractors were gathering their private data in the hope that it might be used for political purposes” -- specifically, to manipulate those users in order to foment dissent in Cuba and subvert its government. According to top-secret documents published by The Intercept, this sort of operation is frequently discussed at western intelligence agencies, which have plotted ways to covertly use social media for ”propaganda,” “deception,” “mass messaging,” and “pushing stories.”

The documents in the former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden’s archive show that the British are particularly aggressive and eager in this regard, and formally shared their methods with their US counterparts. One previously undisclosed top-secret document -- prepared by GCHQ for the 2010 annual “SIGDEV” gathering of the “Five Eyes” surveillance alliance comprising the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the US -- explicitly discusses ways to exploit Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media as secret platforms for propaganda.