The U.S. military is launching a probe into its clandestine psychological warfare operations over concerns that the Pentagon may have used fake social media accounts to manipulate foreign audiences, the Washington Post reports.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl has ordered military commands to give a full accounting of their psychological warfare activities within a month, according to a newspaper investigation that cited multiple unnamed Pentagon administration officials familiar with the matter.
"The message was essentially, 'You need to give me an explanation for why you're doing this,'" the Washington Post reported, citing an official describing Cal's order.
According to the newspaper, the order was prompted by concerns at the White House about "the Defense Department's attempt to manipulate audiences overseas" using social media, and comes after Twitter and Facebook removed 150 fake accounts believed to be involved in "covert influence operations." The information was uncovered by researchers at Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory, who published a joint report detailing online networks allegedly pushing pro-Western propaganda against Russia and other politicized messages.
While the study does not place the blame for the fake accounts on any specific perpetrator, two officials told the Washington Post that US CENTCOM, the combatant command that oversees forces in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, is among those whose activities will be scrutinized and vetted for covert "influence operations."
CENTCOM has not commented on whether any of the fake accounts were created by its personnel or contractors, but a Washington Post source noted that such behavior would be "an absolute violation of training doctrine and practices."
In 2020, officials at Twitter and Facebook contacted the U.S. military to share their concerns about fake accounts allegedly linked to the Pentagon. The incident reportedly prompted David Agronovich, a supervisor in Facebook's Global Threat Neutralization department, to warn the US military that once Facebook was able to detect "inauthentic behavior," "so could the enemies of the United States."
Reached for comment by the Washington Post, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder of the Air Force says military information operations "support our national security priorities" but must be conducted in a lawful manner, adding, "We are committed to enforcing safeguards",
Unheard Voice
Stanford Internet Observatory collaborated with Graphika to analyze a large network of accounts removed from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in our latest report. This information operation likely originated in the United States and targeted a range of countries in the Middle East and Central Asia.
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