In the article titled “Mapping Out All The Key Revelations From The ‘Twitter Files’ So Far…”, one idea I found concerning was the immediate censorship of anything questioned by the Government. The FBI would send Twitter many censorship requests. These requests would be phrased as merely bringing information to Twitter’s attention. Seemingly Twitter made the final decision of if these requests were approved or denied. However, Twitter executives felt compelled to accommodate these requests, even when they struggled to justify doing so. The unjust censorship occurred due to governmental pressure and fears of government backlash. If Twitter removed the information, no questions were asked, but the FBI would follow up if they did not. Twitter had to explain its decision to not censor the content to the bureau. Company executives would be questioned if Twitter’s position on an issue varied from the government’s. In fear of forming bad relationships with the Government, Twitter executives would comply with the requests. In the specific example discussed: a censorship request that targeted an account allegedly run by Russian intelligence, had no concrete evidence but was still removed due to twitters fears of media fallout of the Government publicly labeling the account as run by Russian intelligence. This information adds to many ideas presented in the realm of this course. The misinformation about covid was created by a power structure that many feared to counter. The Twitter files, like Coivd’s misinformation, stem from a place of fear and cause me to worry about the manipulations and power of the Government.
In the Zerohedge article on PsyOps, the video interview with Frank Snepp stuck out to me the most. In this interview, Snepp discusses the CIA’s tactics to infiltrate prominent new sources and spread a false, preferred narrative. Snepp specifically discusses planting stories in Vietnam and how he would gain journalists’ trust, feed them information, and then make sure that the journalist’s facts checks failed. The governments censorship of old employees was scarier than the false information itself. Snepp mentioned how after he informed the public of the CIA’s tacts, the Supreme Court ruled that all trusted employees of the Government must submit anything that they are going to say regarding their work to the Government for approval. The Government can then censor anything that it would like. The use of popular news sources relates to surveillance capitalism as both tactics manipulate public behaviors in order to achieve specific goals. This article also refers to censorship and the spread of misinformation regarding covid. The Government censored information surrounding covid by threatening doctors and putting in place systems to keep their narrative running. This is parallel to the Government censoring past employees and propagating only the information that they want in order to profit
In the second Zerohedge article on PsyOps, emotional manipulation was my main concern. Although, it is hard to refrain from emotions in certain contexts, deliberately manipulating peoples feelings to have them join the Army does not sit right with me. The Army’s chief of public affairs reportedly said that the video was designed to “create an emotional connection” with viewers, which is concerning because this is an intentional ploy. Risking your life is not something to take lightly and should not be the result of coercion. This article reminded me a lot of surveillance capitalism. Surveillance capitalism manipulates people into acting/ buying what the government/ powerful companies want. The emotional manipulation within PsyOps is similar to this capitalistic manipulation.