Trump Killed Public War Research. Stargate Will Make It Secret—and Far More Dangerous

It seems hardly coincidental that right around the time Iowa University's Minerva Initiative grant was greenlit, the Pentagon began conducting wide-ranging "clandestine psychological operations" on social media, targeting the Arab and Muslim world. These efforts were highly sophisticated, employing expansive armies of bots and trolls with realistic AI-generated profile photos and accompanying 'characters.' In Iran, for instance, Pentagon sock puppets deployed varying narrative approaches to engender engagement and influence perceptions locally. Certain accounts accrued thousands of real-life followers.