An Overview of Cyber Troop Activity in Cuba.
Organizational Form
Computational propaganda techniques are used by the government to manipulate information
and promote pro-government narratives and harass opposition figures (Freedom House, 2019).
Students loyal to the Communist Party are allegedly being used as social media marketers, to
amplify messages supporting the government and attacking opposition. A local news outlet has
reported that students from the University of Information Science in Havana are responsible
for spreading socialist propaganda on Twitter, during events they referred to as the "Twitazo”
(Torres & Vela, 2018).
On the other hand, interference from foreign governments in domestic political debate has been
recorded for some time. In 2014, news outlets reported that the US government had developed
and implemented an app aimed at undermining the Cuban government. According to the news
articles (Associated Press, 2014), the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
launched the app ZunZuneo, a social network built on texts. “According to documents obtained
by the Associated Press and multiple interviews with people involved in the project, the plan
was to develop a bare-bones "Cuban Twitter," using cell-phone text messaging to evade Cuba's
strict control of information and its stranglehold restrictions over the internet.” Documents
show that the US government planned to build a subscriber base through "non-controversial
content" and then introduce political content aimed at inspiring Cubans to organize
demonstrations against the regime. According to the Associated Press (2014), “at its peak, the
project drew in more than 40,000 Cubans to share news and exchange opinions. But its
subscribers were never aware it was created by the US government, or that American
contractors were gathering their private data in the hope that it might be used for political
purposes”.
Additionally, reports (Iannelli, 2018; Norton, 2018) accuse the US Office of Cuba
Broadcasting of using “native” and “non-branded” accounts on Facebook and YouTube to
spread right-wing, pro-US, pro-capitalist propaganda in Cuba. A spokesperson of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors said the project never took off, though this statement appears
unverifiable at the moment.
Table 1: Organizational Form and Prevalence of Social Media Manipulation in Cuba
Initial Government
Politicians & Private
Civil
Society Citizens &
Report Agencies
Parties
Contractors
Organizations Influencers
2014
Evidence found
Evidence
found
Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found.
Strategies, Tools, and Techniques
Human rights activists have reported the use of technical tools to manipulate public debate.
The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC) has denounced the growing use of digital
tools of cyber warfare against political dissidents in Cuba. They reported situations in which
their email and Facebook accounts were hacked and have reported more than 14,000 viral
attacks on their websites (Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, 2017). The objective,
according to FHRC, is to generate or exacerbate conflicts among various organizations and to
discredit them by resorting to the techniques of modern black propaganda: falsifying statements,
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