Facebook, Twitter Detail Efforts to Stop Fake Accounts from Targeting Veterans
Facebook and Twitter representatives described their strategic efforts to combat exploitation specifically targeting veterans online—yet the increasingly sophisticated digital disinformation threats show no signs of abating, lawmakers learned at a hearing on the hill Wednesday.
“These operations are rapidly evolving,” said the science director of the social network analysis company Graphika, Vlad Barash. “Early campaigns we observed and analyzed targeted individuals online at random, using easily discoverable methods; newer methods target specific communities, embed sock-puppet personas in them, and use sophisticated ‘cyborg’ approaches that synergize large-scale automated operations with precisely crafted disinformation injection and hijacking efforts by human operators.”
As an influential community in America’s social fabric both on and off the internet, veterans have become a popular target for online manipulation. Bots, trolls, bad actors and beyond are seizing opportunities and vulnerabilities to exploit them over the internet, with the intent of sowing division and spreading disinformation. The hearing is part of a broader investigation launched by the House Veterans Affairs Committee in March to address the online veteran-targeting efforts being weaponized to inspire fear and spark national confusion.
