But nobody is using it -- since it is a basically a pipeline to the Feds. Parler is back on iPhones: Social media app returns to Apple's App Store https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...le-app-store-iphone-after-removal/5124921001/ Parler, the social media app removed from iPhones and Android devices in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, is back on Apple's App Store. In a statement Monday, Parler announced its app has relaunched on Apple devices, after "months of productive dialogue" with the tech giant. A separate search of Apple's App Store conducted by USA TODAY confirmed the Parler app is now available to download. As part of the deal to return to the App Store, Parler's iOS app will exclude some content normally allowed on the social media company's platform. However, the content will remain visible through Android and web-based versions of the site. In its statement, Parler said it "plans to continue its discussions with Apple as to the optimal way to handle this content." "Parler has and will always be a place where people can engage in the free exchange of ideas in the full spirit of the First Amendment," said Parler interim CEO Mark Meckler in a statement. "The entire Parler team has worked hard to address Apple's concerns without compromising our core mission." Parler said it has also added algorithms that will automatically detect violent or inciting content. Parler was yanked from both the App Store and Google Play, for Android users, in January, just days after the attack on the Capitol. Amazon then shut down Parler's web hosting service. "We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity," Apple said in a statement in January. Last month, Apple confirmed in a letter sent to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., the app had been reinstated after Parler pledged to make significant changes to how it moderates content. Parler is available on Android but not distributed by Google Play. The Android app is also available on Parler’s website.
Way more hateful and violent content occurs on Twitter. Its just the violent content that the government is OK with.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-parler-fbi-alerts/ Parler sent warnings of violence on Jan. 6 to FBI over 50 times: documents The social media site Parler has been adopted by many supporters of former President Donald Trump as part of the boycott of sites that banned him. But now it's being revealed that Parler alerted the FBI to violence being planned on their platform ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) revealed Tuesday in a video to the House Oversight Committee that not only did Parler out their members to the feds, they sent warnings and information more than 50 times. It also appears the FBI was well aware of the attack being planned. It's unclear how much information they turned over to the Capitol Police or anyone in Congress on the relevant committees.
Agent provocateur An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent") is a person who commits or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation or entice legal action against the target or a group they belong to or are perceived to belong to. They may target any group, such as a peaceful protest or demonstration, a union, a political party or a company. In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a serious crime in itself, it can be sufficient for the agent provocateur to entrap the target into discussing and planning an illegal act. It is not necessary for the illegal act to be carried out or even prepared. Prevention of infiltration by agents provocateurs is part of the duty of demonstration marshals, also called stewards, deployed by organizers of large or controversial assemblies.[1][2][3] Contents 1 History and etymology 2 Common usage 3 By region 3.1 Russia 3.2 United States 3.3 Europe 3.4 Canada 3.5 Internet 4 Manufactured Jurisdiction 5 See also 6 References 7 External links History and etymology While the practice is worldwide anciently, modern undercover operations were scaled up in France by Eugène François Vidocq in the early 19th century, and already included use of unlawful tactics against opponents. Later in the same century the police targets included union activists who came to fear plain-clothed policemen (agent de police in French). Hence, the French agent provocateur spread, just as is, to English and German. In accordance with French grammar, the plural form of the term is agents provocateurs. Common usage An agent provocateur may be a police officer or a secret agent of police who encourages suspects to carry out a crime under conditions where evidence can be obtained; or who suggests the commission of a crime to another, in hopes they will go along with the suggestion and be convicted of the crime. A political organization or government may use agents provocateurs against political opponents. The provocateurs try to incite the opponent to do counter-productive or ineffective acts to foster public disdain or provide a pretext for aggression against the opponent. Historically, labor spies, hired to infiltrate, monitor, disrupt, or subvert union activities, have used agent provocateur tactics. Agent provocateur activities raise ethical and legal issues. In common law jurisdictions, the legal concept of entrapment may apply if the main impetus for the crime was the provocateur. By region Russia The activities of agents provocateurs against revolutionaries in Imperial Russia were notorious. Jacob Zhitomirsky, Yevno Azef, Roman Malinovsky, and Dmitry Bogrov, all members of Okhrana, were notable provocateurs. In the "Trust Operation" (1921–1926), the Soviet State Political Directorate (OGPU) set up a fake anti-Bolshevik underground organization, "Monarchist Union of Central Russia". The main success of this operation was luring Boris Savinkov and Sidney Reilly into the Soviet Union, where they were arrested and executed. United States In the United States, the COINTELPRO program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation included FBI agents posing as political activists to disrupt the activities of political groups in the U.S., such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the American Indian Movement, and the Ku Klux Klan.[4] New York City police officers were accused of acting as agents provocateurs during protests against the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.[5] Denver police officers were also alleged to have used undercover detectives to instigate violence against police during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.[6] Also in New York City, an undercover motorcycle police officer was convicted of and sentenced to two years in prison in 2015 for second-degree assault, coercion, riot and criminal mischief after an incident at a motorcycle rally. In 2013, the officer, Wojciech Braszczok, was investigating motorcyclists by blending in with a crowd during the rally; at some point another motorcyclist was hit by a motorist, Alexian Lien. Braszczok is later seen on video breaking a window to Lien's car and assaulting him with others in the crowd. His actions were investigated by the NYPD and he ended up facing charges along with other members of the rally. Braszczok was eventually convicted on some of the charges laid, and received two years in prison.[7] Europe In February 1817, after the Prince Regent was attacked, the British government employed agents provocateurs to obtain evidence against the agitators.[8] Sir John Retcliffe was an agent provocateur for the Prussian secret police. Francesco Cossiga, former head of secret services and Head of state of Italy, advised the 2008 minister in charge of the police, on how to deal with the protests from teachers and students:[9] He should do what I did when I was Minister of the Interior. [...] infiltrate the movement with agents provocateurs (sic) inclined to do anything [...] And after that, with the momentum gained from acquired popular consent, [...] beat them for blood and beat for blood also those teachers that incite them. Especially the teachers. Not the elderly, of course, but the girl teachers, yes. Another example occurred in France in 2010 where police disguised as members of the CGT (a leftist trade union) interacted with people during a demonstration.[10] Canada On August 20, 2007, during meetings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in Montebello, three police officers were revealed among the protesters by Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, and alleged to be provocateurs. The police posing as protestors wore masks and all black clothes; one was notably armed with a large rock. They were asked to leave by protest organizers. After the three officers had been revealed, their fellow officers in riot gear handcuffed and removed them. The evidence that revealed these three men as "police provocateurs" was initially circumstantial-they were imposing in stature, similarly dressed, and wearing police boots.[11][12] According to veteran activist Harsha Walia, it was other participants in the black bloc who identified and exposed the undercover police.[13] After the protest, the police force initially denied, then later admitted that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators; they then denied that the officers were provoking the crowd and instigating violence.[14] The police released a news release in French where they stated "At no time did the police of the Sûreté du Québec act as instigators or commit criminal acts" and "At all times, they responded within their mandate to keep order and security."[15] During the 2010 G20 Toronto summit, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested five people, two of whom were members of the Toronto Police Service.[16] City and provincial police, including the TPS, went on to arrest 900 people in the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.[17] The RCMP watchdog commission saw no indication that RCMP undercover agents or event monitors acted inappropriately.[dubious – discuss] Internet The internet has been a perfect tool for information warfare, with many internet trolls acting as agents provocateurs by disseminating black propaganda. Such tactics are used to further the interests of countries,[18][19][20] corporations,[21][22][23][24] and political movements.[25][26][27] Manufactured Jurisdiction An agent provocateur can tell the target that the proposed crime involves elements which bring it under the jurisdiction of a specific country. For example, that some of the drugs involved in a drug-smuggling plan will eventually go to the United States, even if that is not the immediate destination. This brings the conspiracy within the jurisdiction of US courts, even if the target never joins any plan to smuggle drugs to the US directly. See also Astroturfing Bad-jacketing Bob Lambert (undercover police officer) Brandon Darby COINTELPRO Covert interrogation Denial and deception Entrapment False flag Fifth column Grant Bristow Informant Internet troll Mark Kennedy (police officer) Terry Norman Ratfucking Security Sting operation Umbrella man (Minneapolis riots) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur
Astroturfing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations credibility by withholding information about the source's financial connection. The term astroturfing is derived from AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic carpeting designed to resemble natural grass, as a play on the word "grassroots". The implication behind the use of the term is that instead of a "true" or "natural" grassroots effort behind the activity in question, there is a "fake" or "artificial" appearance of support. Contents 1 Definition 2 Policies and enforcement 3 Debate 3.1 Effectiveness 3.2 Justification 3.3 Impact on society 4 Techniques 4.1 Detection 5 Business and adoption 6 History of incidents 6.1 Origins 6.2 Tobacco 6.3 Internet 6.4 Politics 6.5 Environment 6.6 Commercial 6.7 State-sponsored 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading Definition In political science, it is defined as the process of seeking electoral victory or legislative relief for grievances by helping political actors find and mobilize a sympathetic public, and is designed to create the image of public consensus where there is none.[1][2] Astroturfing is the use of fake grassroots efforts that primarily focus on influencing public opinion and typically are funded by corporations and governmental entities to form opinions.[3] On the Internet, astroturfers use software to mask their identity. Sometimes one individual operates through many personas to give the impression of widespread support for their client's agenda.[4][5] Some studies suggest astroturfing can alter public viewpoints and create enough doubt to inhibit action.[6][7] In the first systematic study of astroturfing in the United States, Oxford Professor Philip N. Howard argued that the internet was making it much easier for powerful lobbyists and political movements to activate small groups of aggrieved citizens to have an exaggerated importance in public policy debates.[2] Astroturfed accounts on social media do not always require humans to write their posts; one January 2021 study detailed a "set of human-looking bot accounts" used to post political content, which was able to operate automatically for fourteen days (and make 1,586 posts) before being detected and suspended by Twitter.[8] Policies and enforcement Many countries have laws that prohibit more overt astroturfing practices.[9] In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may send cease-and-desist orders or require a fine of $16,000 per day for those that violate its "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising".[9][10] The FTC's guides were updated in 2009 to address social media and word-of-mouth marketing.[11][12] According to an article in the Journal of Consumer Policy, the FTC's guides holds advertisers responsible for ensuring bloggers or product endorsers comply with the guides, and any product endorsers with a material connection are required to provide honest reviews.[9] In the European Union, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive requires that paid-for editorial content in the media provide a clear disclosure that the content is a sponsored advertisement.[9] Additionally, it prohibits those with a material connection from misleading readers into thinking they are a regular consumer.[9] The United Kingdom has the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations,[13] which prohibits "Falsely representing oneself as a consumer." They allow for up to two years in prison and unlimited fines for breaches.[9] Additionally, the advertising industry in the UK has adopted many voluntary policies, such as the Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sale, Promotion and Direct Marketing. A trade association, the Advertising Standards Authority, investigates complaints of breaches. The policy requires that marketing professionals not mislead their audience, including by omitting a disclosure of their material connection.[9] In Australia, astroturfing is regulated by Section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law, which broadly prohibits "misleading and deceptive conduct". According to the Journal of Consumer Policy, Australia's laws, which were introduced in 1975, are more vague. In most cases, they are enforced through lawsuits from competitors, rather than the regulatory body, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.[9] There is also an International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).[14] Legal regulations are primarily targeted towards testimonials, endorsements and statements as to the performance or quality of a product. Employees of an organization may be considered acting as customers if their actions are not guided by authority within the company.[14] In October 2018, after denying that they had paid for people to show up in support of a controversial power plant development project in New Orleans, Entergy was fined five million dollars for using astroturf firm The Hawthorn Group to provide actors to prevent real community members' voices from being counted at city council meetings and show false grassroots support.[15] Debate Effectiveness In the book Grassroots for Hire: Public Affairs Consultants in American Democracy, Edward Walker defines "astroturfing" as public participation that is perceived as heavily incented, as fraudulent (claims are attributed to those who did not make such statements), or as an elite campaign masquerading as a mass movement.[16] Although not all campaigns by professional grassroots lobbying consultants meet this definition, the book finds that the elite-sponsored grassroots campaigns often fail when they are not transparent about their sources of sponsorship and/or fail to develop partnerships with constituencies that have an independent interest in the issue. Walker highlights the case of Working Families for Wal-Mart, in which the campaign's lack of transparency led to its demise. A study published in the Journal of Business Ethics examined the effects of websites operated by front groups on students. It found that astroturfing was effective at creating uncertainty and lowering trust about claims, thereby changing perceptions that tend to favor the business interests behind the astroturfing effort.[3] The New York Times reported that "consumer" reviews are more effective, because "they purport to be testimonials of real people, even though some are bought and sold just like everything else on the commercial Internet."[17] Some organizations feel that their business is threatened by negative comments, so they may engage in astroturfing to drown them out.[18] Online comments from astroturfing employees can also sway the discussion through the influence of groupthink.[19] Justification Some astroturfing operatives defend their practice.[20] Regarding "movements that have organized aggressively to exaggerate their sway," author Ryan Sager said that this "isn't cheating. Doing everything in your power to get your people to show up is basic politics."[21] According to a Porter/Novelli executive, "There will be times when the position you advocate, no matter how well framed and supported, will not be accepted by the public simply because you are who you are."[22] Impact on society Data mining expert Bing Liu (University of Illinois) estimated that one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake.[17] According to The New York Times, this has made it hard to tell the difference between "popular sentiment" and "manufactured public opinion".[23] According to an article in the Journal of Business Ethics, astroturfing threatens the legitimacy of genuine grassroots movements. The authors argued that astroturfing that is "purposefully designed to fulfill corporate agendas, manipulate public opinion and harm scientific research represents a serious lapse in ethical conduct."[3] A 2011 report found that often paid posters from competing companies are attacking each other in forums and overwhelming regular participants in the process.[24] George Monbiot said that persona-management software supporting astroturfing "could destroy the Internet as a forum for constructive debate".[25] An article in the Journal of Consumer Policy said that regulators and policy makers needed to be more aggressive about astroturfing. The author said that it undermines the public's ability to inform potential customers of sub-standard products or inappropriate business practices, but also noted that fake reviews were difficult to detect.[9] Techniques Use of one or more front groups is one astroturfing technique. These groups typically present themselves as serving the public interest, while actually working on behalf of a corporate or political sponsor.[26] Front groups may resist legislation and scientific consensus that is damaging to the sponsor's business by emphasizing minority viewpoints, instilling doubt and publishing counterclaims by corporate-sponsored experts.[3] Fake blogs can also be created that appear to be written by consumers, while actually being operated by a commercial or political interest.[27] Some political movements have provided incentives for members of the public to send a letter to the editor at their local paper, often using a copy and paste form letter that is published in dozens of newspapers verbatim.[28] Another technique is the use of sockpuppets, where a single person creates multiple identities online to give the appearance of grassroots support. Sockpuppets may post positive reviews about a product, attack participants that criticize the organization, or post negative reviews and comments about competitors, under fake identities.[18][29] Astroturfing businesses may pay staff based on the number of posts they make that are not flagged by moderators.[24] Persona management software may be used so that each paid poster can manage five to seventy convincing online personas without getting them confused.[25][30] Online astroturfing using sockpuppets is a form of Sybil attack against distributed systems. Pharmaceutical companies may sponsor patient support groups and simultaneously push them to help market their products.[31] Bloggers who receive free products, paid travel or other accommodations may also be considered astroturfing if those gifts are not disclosed to the reader.[32] Analysts could be considered astroturfing, since they often cover their own clients without disclosing their financial connection. To avoid astroturfing, many organizations and press have policies about gifts, accommodations and disclosures.[33] Detection This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this section by clarifying or removing indiscriminate details. If importance cannot be established, the section is likely to be moved to another article, pseudo-redirected, or removed. Find sources: "Astroturfing" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Persona management software can age accounts and simulate the activity of attending a conference automatically to make it more convincing that they are genuine.[34] At HBGary, employees are given separate thumb drives that contain online accounts for individual identities and visual cues to remind the employee which identity they are using at the time.[34] Mass letters may be printed on personalized stationery using different typefaces, colors and words to make them appear personal.[35] According to an article in The New York Times, the Federal Trade Commission rarely enforces its astroturfing laws.[17] However, astroturfing operations are frequently detected if their profile images are recognized[36] or if they are identified through the usage patterns of their accounts.[24] Filippo Menczer's group at Indiana University developed software in 2010 that detects astroturfing on Twitter by recognizing behavioral patterns.[37][38][39] Business and adoption According to an article in the Journal of Consumer Policy, academics disagree on how prolific astroturfing is.[9] According to Nancy Clark from Precision Communications, grass-roots specialists charge $25 to $75 for each constituent they convince to send a letter to a politician.[35] Paid online commentators in China are purportedly paid 50 cents for each online post that is not removed by moderators,[24] leading to the nickname of the "50-cent party".[19] The New York Times reported that a business selling fake online book reviews charged $999 for 50 reviews and made $28,000 a month shortly after opening.[17] According to the Financial Times, astroturfing is "commonplace" in American politics, but was "revolutionary" in Europe when it was exposed that the European Privacy Association, an anti-privacy "think-tank", was actually sponsored by technology companies.[40] History of incidents Origins Although the term "astroturfing" was not yet developed, an early example of the practice was in Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. In the play, Cassius writes fake letters from "the public" to convince Brutus to assassinate Caesar.[14] The term "astroturfing" was first coined in 1985 by Texas Democratic Party senator Lloyd Bentsen when he said, "a fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grass roots and AstroTurf... this is generated mail."[14][41] Bentsen was describing a "mountain of cards and letters" sent to his office to promote insurance industry interests.[42] AstroTurf itself had recently been invented, and installed in the Houston Astrodome; according to the manufacturer, "a certain belief that man could conquer the constraints of nature with ingenuity and forward-thinking progress pervaded. The Astrodome was built in the midst of this feverish pursuit of the impossible."[43] Tobacco In response to the passage of tobacco control legislation in the US, Philip Morris, Burson-Marsteller and other tobacco interests created the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) in 1993. The NSA and other tobacco interests initiated an aggressive public relations campaign from 1994 to 1999 in an effort to exaggerate the appearance of grassroots support for smoker's rights. According to an article in the Journal of Health Communication, the NSA had mixed success at defeating bills that were damaging revenues of tobacco interests.[44] Internet Email, automated phone calls, form letters, and the Internet made astroturfing more economical and prolific in the late 1990s.[25][41] In 2001, as Microsoft was defending itself against an antitrust lawsuit, Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL), a group heavily funded by Microsoft, initiated a letter-writing campaign. ATL contacted constituents under the guise of conducting a poll and sent pro-Microsoft consumers form and sample letters to send to involved lawmakers. The effort was designed to make it appear as though there was public support for a sympathetic ruling in the antitrust lawsuit.[35][45] In January 2018, YouTube user Isaac Protiva uploaded a video alleging that internet service provider Fidelity Communications was behind an initiative called "Stop City-Funded Internet", based on how some images on the Stop City-Funded Internet website had "Fidelity" in their file names.[46] The campaign appeared to be in response to the city of West Plains expanding their broadband network, and advocated for the end of municipal broadband on the basis that it was too risky.[47][48] Days later, Fidelity released a letter admitting to sponsoring the campaign.[49] Politics In 2009–2010, an Indiana University research study developed a software system to detect astroturfing on Twitter due to the sensitivity of the topic in the run up to the 2010 U.S. midterm elections and account suspensions on the social media platform. The study cited a limited number of examples, all promoting conservative policies and candidates.[37][38][39] In 2003, GOPTeamLeader.com offered the site's users "points" that could be redeemed for products if they signed a form letter promoting George Bush and got a local paper to publish it as a letter to the editor. More than 100 newspapers published an identical letter to the editor from the site with different signatures on it. Similar campaigns were used by GeorgeWBush.com, and by MoveOn.org to promote Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11.[28][50] The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's "Fix the Debt" campaign advocated to reduce government debt without disclosing that its members were lobbyists or high-ranking employees at corporations that aim to reduce federal spending.[51][52] It also sent op-eds to various students that were published as-is.[53] Some organizations in the Tea Party movement have been accused of being astroturfed.[54] In 2018, Jeff Ballabon, a Republican operative in his mid-50s, set up a website called "Jexodus" claiming to be by "proud Jewish Millennials tired of living in bondage to leftist politics", but has been denounced as "likely a clumsy astroturf effort rather than an actual grassroots movement".[55][56][57][58] The website was registered November 5, 2018, before the congressional election, and before those representatives accused of antisemitism had even been voted in.[58] This website was later cited by Donald Trump as though it were an authentic movement.[55] In January 2021, a team led by Mohsen Mosleh conducted a politically oriented astroturfing campaign on Twitter, using "a set of human-looking bot accounts"; each bot would search for users posting links the researchers considered to be fake news, and "tweet a public reply message to the user’s tweet that contained the link to the false story". 1,586 spam replies were made over the course of fourteen days, until Twitter detected and suspended all of the bot accounts.[8] Environment The Koch brothers are known[by whom?] to have started a public advocacy group to prevent the development of wind turbines offshore in Massachusetts. The Kennedy family was also involved.[59][60][61][62][63] Corporate efforts to mobilize the public against environmental regulation accelerated in the US following the election of president Barack Obama.[64] In 2014, the Toronto Sun conservative media organization has published an article accusing Russia of using astroturf tactics to drum up anti-fracking sentiment across Europe and the West, supposedly in order to maintain dominance in oil exports through Ukraine.[65] In Canada, a coalition of oil and gas company executives grouped under the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) also initiated a series of Canadian actions to advocate for the oil and gas industry in Canada through mainstream and social media, and using online campaigning to generate public support for fossil fuel energy projects.[66] Commercial In 2006, two Edelman employees created a blog called "Wal-Marting Across America" about two people traveling to Wal-Marts across the country. The blog gave the appearance of being operated by spontaneous consumers, but was actually operated on behalf of Working Families for Walmart, a group funded by Wal-Mart.[67][68] In 2007, Ask.com deployed an anti-Google advertising campaign portraying Google as an "information monopoly" that was damaging the Internet. The ad was designed to give the appearance of a popular movement and did not disclose it was funded by a competitor.[69] In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission settled a complaint with Reverb Communications, who was using interns to post favorable product reviews in Apple's iTunes store for clients.[70] In September 2012, one of the first major identified case of astroturfing in Finland involved criticisms about the cost of a €1.8 billion patient information system, which was defended by fake online identities operated by involved vendors.[36][71] In September 2013, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a settlement with 19 companies to prevent astroturfing. "'Astroturfing' is the 21st century's version of false advertising, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to put an end to it," said Scheiderman. The companies paid $350,000 to settle the matter, but the settlement opened the way for private suits as well. "Every state has some version of the statutes New York used," according to lawyer Kelly H. Kolb. "What the New York attorney general has done is, perhaps, to have given private lawyers a road map to file suit."[72][73] State-sponsored An Al Jazeera four part mini-series documented Israel's attempt to promote more friendly, pro-Israel rhetoric to influence the attitudes of British youth, namely through influencing already established political bodies, such as the National Union of Students and the Labour Party, or through the creation of other bodies not directly affiliated with the Israeli administration.[74] In 2008, an expert on Chinese affairs, Rebecca MacKinnon, estimated the country employed 280,000 in a government-sponsored astroturfing operation to post pro-China propaganda and drown out voices of dissent.[24][75] In June 2010, the United States Air Force solicited for "persona management" software that would "enable an operator to exercise a number of different online persons from the same workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries. Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms..."[76] The $2.6 million contract was awarded to Ntrepid Corporation for astroturfing software the military would use to spread pro-American propaganda in the Middle East, and disrupt extremist propaganda and recruitment. The contract is thought to have been awarded as part of a program called Operation Earnest Voice, which was first developed as a psychological warfare weapon against the online presence of groups ranged against coalition forces.[25][77][78][79]
Ransomware group exploits Parler’s hands-off approach to shake down victims https://www.dailydot.com/debug/ransomware-gang-parler-account/
Parler lays off 75% of its staff. The company has no future. Parler’s parent company has laid off a majority of its staff https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/10/...ies-layoffs-gettr-george-farmer-candace-owens
Parler has a mere 20 employees left. Shall we start a poll on when the company completely collapses? Quite the shame that not a single right-wing MAGA social media network actually can succeed. Wonder why? (Hint: sarcasm). Parler owner laid off 75% of staff and has only 20 employees left, report says https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...taff-after-ending-deal-to-sell-to-kanye-west/