by Logan Washburn at the Federalist
The Department of Defense has allocated millions of dollars to create phony social media profiles the government could turn against Americans.
The Department of Defense funded a “large scale social deception” program, according to public spending disclosures. The Federalist has uncovered documents showing how the federal government used “social engineering” programs to develop networks of fraudulent social media accounts capable of violating Americans’ rights to speech and privacy online — and, potentially, psychological warfare.
The DOD awarded more than $9.1 million for Thomson Reuters Special Services (TRSS) for “ACTIVE SOCIAL ENGINEERING DEFENSE… LARGE SCALE SOCIAL DECEPTION” starting in 2018, according to government funding disclosures. Of the total amount promised, the federal government reportedly paid — or “outlayed” — more than $268,000 for the project.
TRSS is a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, which owns the leftist media outlet Reuters. According to the company’s website, it offers “scalable solutions to governments and global institutions,” and its leadership “leverages real-world experience in the US Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, law enforcement and the private sector.” The Air Force awarded the contract, and the DOD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — the military’s shady research branch — funded the work in “large scale social deception.”
A DARPA funding document shows the Air Force’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Human Effectiveness Division, enabled this project in 2018 — initially promising just $1 million before increasing the obligated amount to more than $9.1 million. The division, according to its website, is “composed of a diverse group of scientists and engineers studying developing technologies specific to the human element of warfighting.”
Many other contracts were part of the same project,…
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