State Dept Boosted Hawks In Attacks On Iranian-American Anti-War Advocates
By Josh Kovensky
June 5, 2019 11:11 am
A campaign funded by the U.S. Department of State amplified an influential, war-hungry D.C. think tank chief’s attacks on Iranian-American anti-war advocates, apparently turning a new government-sponsored anti-disinformation initiative into a megaphone for advocates of military confrontation with Tehran.
The @IranDisinfo Twitter account boosted Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) chief executive Mark Dubowitz, while a website associated with the social media profile published the work of FDD senior adviser Saeed Ghasseminejad.
The campaign — formally known as the Iran Disinformation Project — received funding from the State Department through its Global Engagement Center, an initiative created in 2017 with the aim of countering foreign propaganda efforts.
But State pulled funding for the campaign on Friday after IranDisinfo was found to be attacking American opponents of the Trump administration’s Iran policy, telling journalists in a statement that some of its activities went beyond the “scope” of the grant.
more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/state-department-support-iran-war-social-media-attack
= new reply since forum marked as read
