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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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Edited 5 y ago
You guys want to know what this "meddling" looks like? There are several recent examples. I'm going to give you a glimpse into how the Information Operations world works.
Much effort is made to build social media groups like "Veterans against Trump". These SM groups have a purpose, and it isn't just to bitch about things Trump does. The real purpose is to collect metadata, and periodically to weaponize it. A very significant portion of the members of such groups are bots, rabble-rousers, and potentially, agents of various entities.

To wit: you might recall the recent thread that about how 1000 Veterans signed a letter to stand against Trump on his firing of LTC Vindman from the NSC. Now I didn't get an email or facebook post to sign onto such a letter, but surely it would have had to be circulated through quite a number to amass that many signatures in a weekend. (Honestly, 1,000 is a pitifully small number, but that is beside the point). So what they do is pick a group - such as Veterans against Trump and make a post with something like: "hit like if you agree that Trump shouldn't fire a patriotic war hero like Vindman".
To get it to trend, they turn the bots loose. Over the weekend, they compile the results and contact useful allies in the media and Presto! We have a story.
Equally or even more useful is to track your likes and items you don't click on or read and use that to refine future efforts and tailor the message going forward.
It isn't just foreign actors that do this. In fact, this is very much like the effort Parscale put together on behalf of Trump in 2016.
I can think of dozens of examples of this in just the past couple months. Impeachment was a bonanza for such efforts.
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SSG Orderly Room Ncoic
SSG (Join to see)
5 y
1SG (Join to see) - it absolutely is about control, but, you can't have the illusion of control if people see you as weak. So, it's not "their fault" they lost.
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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5 y
SSG (Join to see) - Except it is their fault, because their attempts at control was aimed only at the people they already had convinced. The beauty of what Trump's team did is that they went after voters that supported the other side, and succeeded in driving wedges and peeling some of them off while getting others to stay home. Their messaging at how Bernie got screwed was particularly effective.

The scary thing is that they are doing the same thing this cycle, only better. And the Dems still haven't figured that out.
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SSG Orderly Room Ncoic
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1SG (Join to see) - I agree, I was being sarcastic about it being not their fault, perhaps I should of implied it harder.
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
1SG (Join to see)
5 y
SSG (Join to see) - Oh I know. I was just amplifying my point.
This activity is one of the things I do in the military, and the TTPs are recognizable, if amateurish in execution.
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SSG Robert Perrotto
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And just like that, we are back to the "Russians" - for the love of all that is holy, our allies and our enemies have been meddling with ours for decades, we have meddled in our allies and enemies for decades, seriously, what rock have some of you come out from under? I can tell you right now, many of my friends and people in my social circles who are moderate liberals, centrists, and libertarian are getting sick of the shenanigans of the Trump opposition - if this shit gains traction from the progressive democrats, these people will not vote for whatever candidate wins the dog and pony show you folks call the DNC. Other then the diehard never Trumpers, normal, moderate, people are not going to stomach another round of the "Russians"
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SSgt Forensic Meteorological Consultant
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This Garbage is all political
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