General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTechnology used to combat ISIS propaganda enlisted by Democratic group to counter Trump's lies
A new Democratic-aligned political action committee advised by retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, is planning to deploy technology originally developed to counter Islamic State propaganda in service of a domestic political goal to combat online efforts to promote President Trumps handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The group, Defeat Disinfo, will use artificial intelligence and network analysis to map discussion of the presidents claims on social media. It will seek to intervene by identifying the most popular counter-narratives and boosting them through a network of more than 3.4 million influencers across the country in some cases paying users with large followings to take sides against the president.
The initiative reflects fears within the Democratic Party that Trumps unwavering digital army may help sustain him through the pandemic, as it has through past controversies, even as the economy craters, tens of thousands have died, and Trump suffers in the polls.
Its often said campaigns are a battle of ideas, but theyre really a battle of narratives, said David Eichenbaum, a Democratic media consultant who is a senior adviser to the PAC. Today those narratives spread quickly online.
The initiative is run by Curtis Hougland, who received initial funding for the technology from DARPA, the Pentagons research arm, as part of an effort to combat extremism overseas. He insists Democrats are ill-prepared for the looming battle over information and attention, which is bound to play an outsize role in November.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/technology-once-used-to-combat-isis-propaganda-is-enlisted-by-democratic-group-to-counter-trumps-coronavirus-messaging/2020/05/01/6bed5f70-8a5b-11ea-ac8a-fe9b8088e101_story.html
fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)Cha
(297,323 posts)help will come from.. Stanley McChrystal & Defeat Disinfo.
The Magistrate
(95,248 posts)A lot of the enemy's success last time came from simply being first to properly exploit new tools, not from being especially good at wielding them. They can be beaten and may well be ready to assist their defeat by overconfidence in their own abilities, based on their early success against scant opposition.
canetoad
(17,169 posts)And overdue. Software and algorithms will deal with most of them, human observers should be able to deal with the rest.
Hekate
(90,714 posts)Maven
(10,533 posts)THIS is what taking the fight to them looks like. Finally.