>"The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversatio

>"The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda." I thought this had been going on for some time; quite possibly since the early days of the Internet, and not just from America -- but from all nations... >"Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated messages, blogposts, chatroom posts and other interventions." Again, it wouldn't surprise me if every single nation on the planet has this at this point in time; and if they don't, they will... To understand this, think of it this way -- the lowest barrier to entry for something like this is a single person, paid for by one of the various governments, posting messages on behalf of a particular agenda. The next version up is a more sophisticated automated system (which is still ridiculously cheap, given all of the $$$ that most governments have). Up from there we have AI/Machine Learning driven systems, but the cost (again, relative to governments' budgets) is still ridiculously cheap... So, with all of that to gain, and no downside (well, other than spamming up the Internet and destroying intellectual thought and debate with comments that would make Billy Madison look like Albert Einstein: ("Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.")) But aside from that "minor drawback" <g>, to a government point of view, there is no downside, and the cost is so cheap (relative to the $$$ they have), so why not? >"It also calls for "traffic mixing", blending the persona controllers' internet usage with the usage of people outside Centcom in a manner that must offer "excellent cover and powerful deniability"." All I know is, if a user account, real or sockpuppet, man or AI -- tells me that 2 + 2 = 4 -- it's probably right. Conversely, if it tells me that 2 + 2 = 5, it's probably wrong. My point is, I don't believe things just because people say them, or even because a lot of people say them, whether those "people" are real people, paid agents, or AI... It's called "Critical Thinking". Perhaps every country's defense establishments -- should invest a few dollars of their tax base -- and teach it to their citizens... The problem is, "Critical Thinking" -- doesn't have a catchy sounding militaristic title with "Operation" as the first word... Create a fancy name like that, make it a "top secret" project, and I guarantee, due to the Streisand Effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect), that you'll get everyone's attention! Call it "Operation Free Your Mind" or something like that...<g>