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Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

middleeasteye.net

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Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#131

Post by joe_the_user »

thrower123 wrote: post #66
noego wrote: post #6

This is a conflict of interest, which should erode the trust that anyone would have on twitter. The man is simultaneously responsible for editorial decisions, while also serving in a brigade that "uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook ... to wage what the head of the UK military describes as “information warfare”. Imagine finding out that the executive in charge of editorial decisions fo…

Who has any trust in Twitter?

Whether people trust Twitter overtly is not a decisive question. Twitter exists and has an impact. Information on what influences this impact is useful and important.

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#132

Post by joe_the_user »

rjf72 wrote: post #30
noego wrote: post #6

This is a conflict of interest, which should erode the trust that anyone would have on twitter. The man is simultaneously responsible for editorial decisions, while also serving in a brigade that "uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook ... to wage what the head of the UK military describes as “information warfare”. Imagine finding out that the executive in charge of editorial decisions fo…

Do you think that governments want and work to try to influence public opinion? I mean you don't need to rely on intuition here. As one fun example the current state of modern art is largely because the CIA used it as a propaganda weapon. [1] As the article mentions it was pushed heavily by their "Propaganda Assets Inventory, which at its peak could influence more than 800 newspapers, magazines and public information…

I have to object here to your long, vaguely plausible stream of semi-coherent accusations. It adds nothing to the discussion, derails the thread and pollutes the discussion. What is your point?

I mean, states and manipulators like to use Twitter bots but Twitter bots and Twitter editorial decisions are rather distinct. Just as much, the GP doesn't seem confused about whether states use manipulation and your insinuation that they are seems disingenuous.

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#133

Post by notlukesky »

noego wrote: post #6

This is a conflict of interest, which should erode the trust that anyone would have on twitter. The man is simultaneously responsible for editorial decisions, while also serving in a brigade that "uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook ... to wage what the head of the UK military describes as “information warfare”. Imagine finding out that the executive in charge of editorial decisions fo…

There are many examples of media outlets working for governments as weaponized tools all over the globe and as mouthpieces or instruments of foreign policy or even warfare.

Twitter is just another broadcast tool like most media outlets.

Examples of Twitter being used for US foreign policy goals are legion. Here are some from the Obama era on “regime change“ attempts in Iran with personal involvement and approval of Jack Dorsey:

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/middleeast/17media....?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/17/obama-iran-twi...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-election-twitter-usa...

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#134

Post by pembrook »

thrower123 wrote: post #66
noego wrote: post #6

This is a conflict of interest, which should erode the trust that anyone would have on twitter. The man is simultaneously responsible for editorial decisions, while also serving in a brigade that "uses social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook ... to wage what the head of the UK military describes as “information warfare”. Imagine finding out that the executive in charge of editorial decisions fo…

Who has any trust in Twitter?

Exactly.

Twitter is not an open protocol for sharing information. Thats what the internet is for. Twitter is just an advertising company that allows you to post content in exchange for hosting ads on that content.

Who they hire, is their business. If you don't agree with their (inconsistent and haphazard) editorial policies, just host your content elsewhere.

I think we need to stop giving Twitter so much power over the world by talking about it so much and start creating and using other platforms. Twitter has only 20% market penetration in the US.

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#135

Post by [deleted] »

skinnymuch wrote: post #128
Gibbon1 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question why did the completely unknown but sociopathic Zuckerberg get enough funding to squash everyone else?

If Zuckerberg is so evidently a sociopath. What does that make people like Larry Ellison from a far? Or other individual tech giants who backstabbed other founders or early employees to their faces (Twitter founders, mainly Ev and Jack or Snap founders as examples)

[deleted]

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#136

Post by bitL »

skinnymuch wrote: post #128
Gibbon1 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question why did the completely unknown but sociopathic Zuckerberg get enough funding to squash everyone else?

If Zuckerberg is so evidently a sociopath. What does that make people like Larry Ellison from a far? Or other individual tech giants who backstabbed other founders or early employees to their faces (Twitter founders, mainly Ev and Jack or Snap founders as examples)

Look up Martin Eberhard, then look up the name of the most famous company he founded, then look up the end of life of the person the company was named after and weep ;-)

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#137

Post by angry_octet »

Another total beatup. This guy is an Army Captain, a very junior officer in the reserves. He has a journalism background, and while on reserve time he is probably pulling his hair out trying to explain what a tweet is to people who were really comfortable with Blackberry, and dealing with RoE and approvals chains that make doing anything more than writting puff pieces about Change of Command ceremonies or HADR impossible.

I only wish the UK and others would get serious about countering Russian / Iranian/Syrian / GCC/Egyptian / Chinese / ISIS bad actors by unmasking their influence campaigns, educating their populace (at schools and whereever old people can be reached), and generally stop being complacent about it.

Also, it's not call psyops now, it's Information Ops (IO), and if the UK are doing anything it will be at GCHQ, not the Pashtun DJs at 77 BDE.

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#138

Post by throwawaymanbot »

pembrook wrote: post #134
thrower123 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has any trust in Twitter?

Exactly. Twitter is not an open protocol for sharing information. Thats what the internet is for. Twitter is just an advertising company that allows you to post content in exchange for hosting ads on that content. Who they hire, is their business. If you don't agree with their (inconsistent and haphazard) editorial policies, just host your content elsewhere. I think we need to stop giving Twitter so much power over t…

Spoken like a true Psyops-er. :p

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#139

Post by sittingnut »

jdc wrote: post #121
sittingnut wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

altruism?! organizations like amnesty and human rights watch, regularly employee people in and out of western governments and are part of the governing western elite. no wonder that while they are always quick to call out and denounce some third world authoritarians, and adversaries of west, they are far more muted when it comes to rights violations by western leaders(even in minority of cases where they don't simply…

Source? They don't come off especially muted on the USA. On this one page they mention: * civilian drone-strike killings * suspension of travel from Muslim-major countries * attacks on rights of women & girls * new Guantánamo Bay transfers * gun violence * death sentences https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/united-states-...

that is in fact extremely muted (and mostly about things that are not in line with ideology of west's elites) compared to their condemnation of 3rd world authoritarians or adversaries of west. especially so because west is now the biggest rights violators, including biggest mass murderers and perpetrators of illegal wars.

Re: Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer

#140

Post by skinnymuch »

bitL wrote: post #136
skinnymuch wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Zuckerberg is so evidently a sociopath. What does that make people like Larry Ellison from a far? Or other individual tech giants who backstabbed other founders or early employees to their faces (Twitter founders, mainly Ev and Jack or Snap founders as examples)

Look up Martin Eberhard, then look up the name of the most famous company he founded, then look up the end of life of the person the company was named after and weep ;-)

I’m not sure about what happened to Eberhard and his co-founder, and other early employee stakes in Tesla. I find this situation to not be the same as the examples I brought up. Elon and the two co-founders he brought in did not already know the two original co-founders on a personal level. Tesla was behind on their tech and production when the recession was beginning and Elon took over.

Elon plowed all of his liquid assets into Tesla [and SpaceX]. I don’t think he had much money around the late 00s until Tesla was able to get out of its financial woes. I don’t know if the original co-founders would’ve been able to find someone else to pump the money Elon did himself and fundraised from car companies while still maintaining control of the company. Same way, I don’t know if they would’ve been able to get enough money raised from auto companies like Elon and the Tesla team did without them in the late 00s.

For all of that and the fact that the Tesla co-founders were worth tens of millions a piece from a prior startup sale, I’ve never put the Tesla co-founders in the same basket as what the Snap founders did. Or much worse, what the Twitter founders, Ev and Jack, did. Or people like Steve Jobs and Ellison firing early or important employees before stock vested or not giving stock to early employees. For companies that are financially solvent and growing. That’s despicable.

Similarly, I don’t put what Zuckerberg and Facebook did to Eduardo and the Winklevoss on remotely the same level as any of these examples. On the flip side, the twins and especially Eduardo lucked out completely that FB became so successful and they were able to reap enormous financial benefits that they otherwise wouldn’t have done on their own.

The actual Nikola Tesla though. Yes I weep for sure!

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