Can the NSA, say, alter/create Facebook posts in order to disseminate domestic propaganda in the name of national security? We know the Chinese do this. Does the US?
I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but there are several places online claiming this. Wikipedia mentions it as well [0].
Anecdotally, around that time Google News started indexing Voice of America, which is funded by the US government [1].
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorizati...
The 2013 NDAA amended the law to allow the State Department and the Broadcasting Board Of Governors to disseminate material meant for foreign audiences domestically, using domestic services like Youtube, &c.
Fun fact: the Broadcasting Board of Governors also pays for free crypto audits (from some very strong firms) for privacy and anonymity tools. Virtually all the privacy tools you've heard about have had several tens of thousands of dollars worth of audit dollars spent by the BBG to make sure they're not endangering people.
So far as I know --- I've participated in a couple of these audits, but never been a recipient of one --- these are no-strings-attached.
Are the reports from these audits publicly available? Seems like it would be an interesting bit of data to read through.
Our audit is here: https://secfirst.org/blog.html
I think Cryptocat and a few others have published their audits also. The companies who conducted them have them on their site if I recall.
He[1] said none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to "address US audiences" with such technology, and any English-language use of social media by Centcom was always clearly attributed. The languages in which the interventions are conducted include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.
Despite that I think your question is still relevant. Although the article states that it would be unlawful to target US citizens I don't doubt that the NSA is not beholden to this based on their use of questionable tactics in the past.
[1] He being Centcom spokesman Commander Bill Speaks
By not using English, first of all, they're limiting which non-US audiences they can propogandize (for better or for worse).
Furthermore, not only is English not the only language used in the US, it's not even our OFFICIAL language! So they can impact US residences and Americans without using English at all. What an odd statement for them to make.
I personally don't think it's right regardless but I also thought the discussion was devolving quickly with comments about them doing it in the US when the article clearly states otherwise.