X's Foreign Bot Problem, Book Bans, and WWII Spies: On the Media

Foreign Influence on X (Formerly Twitter)

• 🎯 A new X feature, "About This Account," has revealed that many prominent pro-MAGA accounts are not based in the US, but in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Northern Africa.
• 💡 This revelation has caused confusion and anger among X users, highlighting the prevalence of foreign influence operations and click farms on the platform.
• 🎭 The situation is described as a "Russian nesting doll of bullshit," where fake people are yelling at fake people for being fake.
• 💰 X's engagement-based payment model incentivizes outrage and engagement, making it profitable for these accounts to spread divisive content.

The Fight Against Book Bans

• 📚 Librarians are increasingly targeted by activists seeking to remove books from shelves, often based on misinformation and manufactured outrage.
• ⚠️ Amanda Jones, a school librarian, faced a defamation lawsuit and personal threats after speaking out against book challenges, highlighting the personal toll on librarians.
• 🏳️‍🌈 Many targeted books deal with LGBTQ+ themes or race, and librarians emphasize the importance of representation and inclusivity for students' well-being.
• 💰 The book-banning movement is often fueled by dark money and political motivations, with donations flowing to politicians who campaign on these issues.

Scholars as Spies in World War II

• 🧠 During WWII, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) recruited academics, librarians, and scholars for intelligence gathering and propaganda efforts.
• 🕵️ Individuals like Joseph Curtis, Sherman Kent, and Adele Kyber, often overlooked and underestimated, played crucial roles in gathering information and shaping narratives.
• 📚 The war was won not just by physicists, but also by historians, book collectors, and professors who utilized public sources and strategic misinformation.
• 🗣️ Tactics like "whispering" (spreading rumors) and meticulous creation of "pocket litter" were employed to deceive the enemy and influence morale.
• 🇺🇸 The US government learned the value of libraries and humanities for national security, leading to increased investment after the war, a lesson now largely forgotten.
• ⚖️ Authoritarian regimes, like Hitler's, suffer from a limited outlook and a need for conformity, which proves to be a significant military disadvantage.