According to a report in Bloomberg, fake news, and disinformation in the form of viral political memes, articles and other ‘disinformation’ has become a national security issue. So the Defense Department is launching a project to “repel large-scale, automated disinformation attacks.”
Bloomberg reported,
U.S. officials have been working on plans to prevent outside hackers from flooding social channels with false information ahead of the 2020 election. The drive has been hindered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to consider election-security legislation. Critics have labeled him #MoscowMitch, saying he left the U.S. vulnerable to meddling by Russia, prompting his retort of “modern-day McCarthyism.”
President Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected allegations that dubious content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google aided his election win. Hillary Clinton supporters claimed a flood of fake items may have helped sway the results in 2016.
National Security issue? DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been working on software that sifts through “500,000 stories, photos, video and audio clips. If successful, the system after four years of trials may expand to detect malicious intent and prevent viral fake news from polarizing society.”
The thought behind it is that social media is being abused to manipulate elections. But what if by doing this in an attempt to stop manipulation of elections they are actually manipulating the elections? Think about it.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Bloomberg went on to say,
The algorithm testing process will include an ability to scan and evaluate 250,000 news articles and 250,000 social media posts, with 5,000 fake items in the mix. The program has three phases over 48 months, initially covering news and social media, before an analysis begins of technical propaganda. The project will also include week-long “hackathons.”
Trusting a computer to determine the difference between “malicious intent” and what is simply stating an opinion is scary. We have progressed far beyond Science Fiction now and are into a sketchy area of suppression of thought and the loss of free speech. We’ve been headed there for some time by Big Tech, and now the Defense Department is involved. Batten the hatches, America, it could very well become deadly for all of our rights.
H/T Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children
Related:
- Trump-hater Joe Walsh sucks up to fake news CNN, MSNBC: I’m…
- Trump Fights Back, Says Fake News Media Partly Responsible For ‘Anger…
- Opinion: NewsGuard Filter Starts the Next Fake News Trend
- Fake News? Is that Migrant Woman Photograph Staged?
- How The NY Times Turns A Real Story Into Fake News
If you haven’t checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so. You can also follow us on Twitter at @co_firing_line. Please be sure to check out our MeWe page here and check us out at ProAmerica Only here.
If you appreciate independent conservative reports like this, please go here and support us on Patreon and get your conservative pro-Trump gear here.
And while you’re at it, be sure to check out our friends at Whatfinger News, the Internet’s conservative front-page founded by ex-military!
