The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime touches upon this theme, although from an angle more akin to the cyberpunk genre versus 20th century military

The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime touches upon this theme, although from an angle more akin to the cyberpunk genre versus 20th century military industrial complex. SPOILER ALERT The extremely skilled and elusive hacker which they're investigating, the one that has been plaguing/blackmailing corporations for 5 years, turns out to be mostly* an illusion. The corporations and ruling political party leadership worked together in a scheme to create fake cyber attacks, get them highly publicized, and then profit from government relief/bailout money. Regular people believe someone is terrorizing the country's multinational companies, when in reality, it's just a racket. *The legendary hacker is actually out there, but their actual role in the story is somewhat of a plot twist.