Reddit comment about CyProps (Cyber Propaganda)

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/62ow8m/germanys_armed_forces_launch_a_cyber_command_with/

Propaganda has been around since forever - it is just taking advantage of a new medium

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[–]Batchet 1 point 13 minutes ago* 

What's troubling is that it can be done in an untraceable manner now.

It can also use the "laser targeting" that advertising companies are taking advantage of. Groups can isolate their target audience in the same way that marketing does except instead of being like, "oh this person just got engaged, 'initiate wedding ad program'", the software could detect features about people that make them more likely to be victims of propaganda and can target those people directly.

That's one tiny example of how this new "cyber-propaganda" can work.

Marketing in a way, is like propaganda, and I think people in that industry might be able to see how propaganda companies are in this same uncharted territory.

Digital metrics allows feedback like never before. They could try a strategy for a year and look back on exactly where people were convinced and where it didn't work.

Another important difference to add is the fact that someone can disguise as someone that they're not on the internet. They can pretend they're your neighbor that's offering friendly advice when they could really be working for someone to sell/convince you of something and could be really coming from anywhere in the world. Using bots that act like people is going to become more common as the AI advances.

These things combined could cause massive problems for the internet of the future.

AI right now, is like a child. They'll soon be able to have very strong-minded, convincing, human-like, mature bots using arguments that have been tested amongst many others and stored in big databases. They'll know exactly who to target and it'll be very difficult (if not impossible) to know where they're coming from.

Psychological deception with robotic precision.

So maybe I wouldn't say it's just taking advantage of a new medium... it could be a big deal and something we should prepare for.