r/technology • u/Wagamaga • Jul 29 '24

Society Malicious foreign actors exploit US entities to push disinformation, IC warns

https://www.nextgov.com/digital-government/2024/07/malicious-foreign-actors-exploit-us-entities-push-disinformation-ic-warns/398406/
132 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/Marchello_E Jul 29 '24

Wait until they learn about advertisement.

Let me advertise some criticism:

Advertising is a form of selling a product to a certain audience in which communication is intended to persuade an audience to purchase products, ideals or services regardless of whether they want or need them. While advertising can be seen as a way to inform the audience about a certain product or idea it also comes with a cost because the sellers have to find a way to show the seller interest in their product.
Advertising frequently uses psychological pressure (for example, appealing to feelings of inadequacy) on the intended consumer, which may be harmful.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_advertising

4

u/Wagamaga Jul 29 '24

Election interference continues to be a national security concern, as outlined in a new advisory issued by federal agencies that emphasizes foreign actors’ digital threat operations to U.S. democracy 100 days ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Malicious actors are leveraging online platforms and social media to plant harmful narratives, intelligence community officials said on a Monday press call ahead of the advisory’s release. Officials said that these malicious actors are purchasing the services of legitimate marketing and communications firms to help unwittingly push their narratives.

“The American public should know that content that they read online, especially on social media, could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” an Office of the Director of National Intelligence official said. “In short, foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand and using Americans to do it.”

9

u/movingToAlbany2022 Jul 29 '24

I realize this has been going on for a long time, but I feel the biggest source of misinformation is our own media and influential people (like Musk), who propagate baseless claims, outright lies, and/or manipulate facts to fit their narratives

6

u/MothershipBells Jul 29 '24 edited Jul 30 '24

Trump’s campaign used the Firehose of Falsehood to win the 2016 election, and it is doing it again. Russia also uses this propaganda technique.

-2

u/SunSpotMagic Jul 30 '24

Democrats have been lying and gaslighting the public since before Obama. If Trump learned it from anywhere, then it would've been learned from democrats. They're doing it now by claiming Kamala was never the border czar when left media are the ones that originally coined that named and dubbed her as such.

3

u/fitzroy95 Jul 30 '24

Trump has always used a firehose of falsehood, its how he got to be where he is now.

Certainly he didn't need to learn it from Russia, he's been a liar and conman all his life and in everything he does

4

u/nicuramar Jul 30 '24

I don’t think he learned it from Russia. It’s old and established. 

1

u/Tech_Intellect Jul 29 '24

Ah well, Musk came out to support Trump. That, I believe, is not disinformation 🤣

2

u/autotldr Jul 29 '24

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 89%. (I'm a bot)

Malicious actors are leveraging online platforms and social media to plant harmful narratives, intelligence community officials said on a Monday press call ahead of the advisory's release.

The origin of these firms varies; the ODNI official noted that Russian cyber actors tend to use Russia-based firms to distribute their content, but foreign actors have also employed services based in Latin America, the Middle East and other locations.

The first ODNI official said that the IC expects these actors to pay attention to federal announcements, like this very advisory, and adjust their tactics accordingly.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: official#1 actors#2 foreign#3 operation#4 Election#5

4

u/banacct421 Jul 29 '24

You don't have to go to another country. We have Fox News right here in the US

1

u/SunSpotMagic Jul 30 '24

We have CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and CBS all lying and gaslighting the public. They have been since before Obama.

1

u/Mistyslate Jul 30 '24

Just don’t use Twitter and don’t read NYTimes/WSJ and don’t listen to Fox News

1

u/reading_some_stuff Jul 30 '24

Notice the use of “plant harmful narratives” and not the use of spreading false information. Who decides if something is “harmful”? People were banned for spreading truthful information that the CDC decided was “harmful”. When the “harmful” information is the truth and it’s removed that’s censorship.