Governments Hire Web Trolls to Sway Public Opinion

As it fights two wars, the Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing the money it spends to win what it calls "the human terrain" of world public opinion. In the process, it is raising concerns of spreading propaganda at home in violation of federal law.

An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Department of Defense budgets and other documents. That's almost as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/29040299/#.Ujx4DRBPikw

For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened?

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/p...ban_spreads_government_made_news_to_americans

Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media

Military's 'sock puppet' software creates fake online identities to spread pro-American propaganda

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks

Hiring paid shills to propagandize for the establishment is a common practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zVgy9Jk0Ec

It’s an admitted fact that governments around the world hire armies of shills to troll comment sections of news websites and social media with pro-establishment propaganda in an attempt to sway public opinion.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/governments-hire-web-trolls-to-sway-public-opinion.html


I just have one question for one of our newest posters. How much does the Pentagon pay "sock puppets" to spread "pro American" war propaganda on social media sites like Baptist Board?

 

I would think one of the things a pentagon "sock puppet" propagandist would do is post as many Fox News stories as possible in a short amount of time. And they would be a newbie here. It's only been "legal" to use Pentagon propaganda on Americans for a short time. Crabby has been around to long to qualify imho.

 

Hyping threats and demonizing bloggers and the alternative media that has been forcing the mainstream corporate media to report on things it never would have reported otherwise like Obama's scandals would be a big part of the game I would think.

There is an effort by government to "define" who are "real journalists" and who are not. Turning the the right to free speech into a government granted privilege where only government sanctioned journalists are allowed to "deliver the news".

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/09/12/Senate-panel-Oks-measure-defining-a-journalist

A New Media Shield Law Would Only Shield Corporate Media

Yet, while Americans are engrossed in the debate over whether or not their government should be allowed to collect and examine the online data of citizens en masse, particularly without suspicion of criminal activity, the vehicle by which these revelations came to light—journalism—is now also under attack.

http://www.vice.com/read/the-new-media-shield-law-only-shields-corporate-media

 

Or maybe they'd employ a neocon RINO that has an obsession with Fox News to demonize and smear people that believe in constitutional government and defending the Bill of Rights against an authoritarian government that has used an overly exaggerated threat of terrorism to shred the constitution and Bill of Rights and create an atmosphere of fear and submission amongst the population.

More than likely they'd be a new comer that sounds like a Bill O'Reilly clone. :smilewinkgrin:

 

China pays internet users to flood web forums with pro-government propaganda

CHINA, which employs an army of censors to police the internet, has also deployed legions of "web commentators" to get the government's message out in a crafty but effective way.

CONTINUE . . .
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