Lawfaremedia | Renée DiResta
The Pentagon's online influence campaigns have significantly evolved from relying on coordinated inauthentic behavior and fake personas to a sophisticated media-buy strategy utilizing paid advertising on major platforms. Following the embarrassing 2022 Unheard Voice report, which exposed largely unsuccessful operations involving AI-generated profiles and bot farms, a new "gc_" generation of websites emerged in 2023. These sites, including Al-Fassel, Pishtaz News, and Entorno Diario, target diverse audiences in regions like the Middle East, Latin America, and Russia with content that is largely factually supportable, though strategically framed to advance U.S. narratives. General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), the original contractor for the 2008 Trans-Regional Web Initiative, is actively running ads for these sites, generating tens of millions of views and demonstrating a shift towards distributing state-funded, journalism-like content through commercial ad infrastructure, aiming for authentic reactions from purchased reach. This evolution mitigates the risk of undermining U.S. credibility through overt manipulation while still achieving strategic communication objectives.
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