U.S. Government Musters Squads of Propaganda Comment Trolls

U.S. Government Writes Software to Enable Squads of Propaganda Comment Trolls

By Patrick Morgan
Discover | March 18, 2011

It sounds like the deranged words of a conspiracy theorist: The U.S. military is (not so) secretly creating software that’ll generate phony online personae in order to subtly influence social media conversations and spread propaganda. But what may sound like wacky theory is actually wacky reality, or at least will soon be, depending on whether it’s already in the works.

Dubbed the “online persona management service,â€