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US government propaganda spread by Twitter, Facebook: Former US diplomat

Michael Springmann

American social media platforms have been disseminating US government propaganda, doing “the job of the American government," says former US diplomat, Michael Springmann.

Springmann told Press TV on Tuesday that popular social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook were “supposed to be basis for people to put comments up, not for being propaganda outlets for the United States government.”

He described as “outrageous” and “disgusting” the fact these US companies, who were claiming to be independent outlets, were in fact “subservient to the American government.”

“Things disappear. Things are blocked. People are sent to electronic jail for comments that they posted … [claiming] ‘we're not doing that’ -- is unbelievable … And, of course the fact that Twitter and Facebook do the job of the American government is simply outrageous,” he said.

The former US diplomat said that these firms should not take money from the US government for spreading its propaganda.

 “This business of taking ads from Voice of America's Iranian service to provide disinformation, misinformation, and false information is disgusting and outrageous,” he said.

The former US diplomat insisted that spreading “disinformation, misinformation, and false information” was “something that the American government should not be doing whatsoever."

Springmann said organizations like these which spread US propaganda were “very close to the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], since they seem to have the same viewpoint.”

He said that it was typical in such organizations that news from Iranian sources was treated with bias, while news from Western sources was viewed as impartial

 “[W]hen you put up something from Iranian news …  or any other news service that is not in the good graces of the American government --  it’s marked as being a foreign power’s news outlet … beware of it probably contains propaganda,” Springmann said.

He said US propaganda was “directly aimed at Iran and other countries that the American government doesn't like, and it is a way around, and a way of hiding behind daily operations and information.”

Springmann insisted the US government's propaganda outlets that were disseminating false information needed to be shut down.


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