CNN: U.S. Using Bots to Spread Anti-Iran Propaganda
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Jaws dropped at the State Department last November when President Donald Trump tweeted a "Game of Thrones"-style poster warning Iran that "Sanctions are coming."
The tweet was the idea of political appointees at State, but many career diplomats were appalled and uncomfortable.
As the rhetoric against Tehran continues to be ratcheted up, there's a divide within the State Department between political officials who want to keep pushing the envelope and career diplomats who argue the strategy is counterproductive and "useless", CNN has reported.
Using digital platforms to condemn Tehran has become a defining characteristic of the Trump administration's Iran policy.
Trump's "Sanctions are coming" tweet certainly caught the world's attention and grabbed headlines. The president was so taken with the image that the poster was on the table in front of him during the first Cabinet meeting of the new year.
Career diplomats had heard about the idea of the original tweet from political leadership at the State Department. They claimed an edgy preview of the big show – U.S. sanctions against entities doing business with Iran, months after the U.S. exited the Iran nuclear deal -- would grab people's attention. Initially, the career officials had said no, arguing it diluted the seriousness of the policy. The poster appeared "more silly than anything else," explained a career diplomat.
But the political appointees sent it to the White House. If State wouldn't use it, maybe the president would. It worked and Trump loved it, explained administration officials.
The poster crystallized the contentious divide between career diplomats at the State Department and Trump's political appointees when it comes to messaging on Iran.
"If nobody is listening, it is useless," explained a political appointee at the State Department. "We need something that jars people out of their complacency. If we can't get people's attention, then we are not communicating our policy. And we are certainly not going to get their attention if we bore them to death."
The "Game of Thrones" poster was considered particularly successful in the eyes of the Trump administration because it broke through during the midterm elections, to a domestic U.S. audience. The fear from career diplomats is that the shock-factor-driven digital approach is not actually bolstering the administration's policy. They see it as diluting very serious policy.
"I don't see how it is effective. I worry that it will, in the end, detract from what we have said is the policy: We want to increase pressure on the Iranian regime to get an all-comprehensive deal," explained a State Department official who has worked on Iran during this administration. "These ideas seem to be speaking more to a domestic audience, and that is not going to move the needle on Iran's calculus on if they will work with us on a new deal."
The Trump administration has stressed that it is seeking to use digital content to reach the Iranian people. U.S. Special Representative to Iran Brian Hook has taken questions from Farsi speakers online. And the recent video that he recorded in front of the former Iranian Embassy in Washington caught the attention of some Iranians online.
It was the content of Hook's video, however, that raised alarm among some diplomats. His message seemed at odds with the administration's repeated claim that it is not pressing for regime change in Iran. Hook said the U.S. wanted to turn over the embassy's keys to a "truly representative Iranian government."
Similar language has been used in other digital content targeting Iran. Still, the administration claims it does not want to evoke regime change, it just wants to support the Iranian people.
Ahead of last week's U.S.-sponsored Warsaw Middle East Summit -- which focused in large part on Iran -- the hashtag #WeSupportPolandSummit trended in Iran. However, some studies of the hashtag, such as one conducted by Geoff Golberg, who is the co-founder of a blockchain index, suggested it was driven in large part by bots.
State Departments officials claimed that happened organically and said it was not "purely" a bot-driven activity.
Yet the Iran digital strategy -- flooding the zone with anti-Iran messaging -- has also confused citizens in countries that are U.S. allies.
The way the administration has used Facebook to post anti-Iranian messages is another departure from the traditional use of that platform by the State Department. The Trump administration posted notices about U.S. Iran sanctions on the Facebook pages of U.S. embassies around the world in November -- primarily in the Middle East. The Facebook pages have historically been used as forums to draw attention to U.S. educational programs in the country or cross-cultural events, rather than sanctions rollouts. The posts provoked an angry response and career diplomats took notice.
In some cases the political appointees' brainstorms for digital content and messaging have gone so far overboard that they have been shut down completely.
Last year one of the political appointees called up the Iran desk with an idea to find a Persian bakery in Washington, have it make rocket-shaped cookies and send them to all the countries within missile-launching range of Iran. The idea was rejected before it turned into anything, but State Department diplomats tell CNN they have had to shut down many similar ideas.
Tweets from the personal accounts of political appointees have also made many career diplomats uncomfortable.
Former State Department officials were shocked. John Kirby, a CNN national security analyst who was a State Department spokesperson during the Obama administration, said using social media for snarky comments "cheapens" diplomacy and would not have been accepted during the Obama administration.
"If I had posted something about him like this on social media, Secretary Kerry would have -- rightly -- been incensed. I might even have been fired," said Kirby.
The tweet was the idea of political appointees at State, but many career diplomats were appalled and uncomfortable.
As the rhetoric against Tehran continues to be ratcheted up, there's a divide within the State Department between political officials who want to keep pushing the envelope and career diplomats who argue the strategy is counterproductive and "useless", CNN has reported.
Using digital platforms to condemn Tehran has become a defining characteristic of the Trump administration's Iran policy.
Trump's "Sanctions are coming" tweet certainly caught the world's attention and grabbed headlines. The president was so taken with the image that the poster was on the table in front of him during the first Cabinet meeting of the new year.
Career diplomats had heard about the idea of the original tweet from political leadership at the State Department. They claimed an edgy preview of the big show – U.S. sanctions against entities doing business with Iran, months after the U.S. exited the Iran nuclear deal -- would grab people's attention. Initially, the career officials had said no, arguing it diluted the seriousness of the policy. The poster appeared "more silly than anything else," explained a career diplomat.
But the political appointees sent it to the White House. If State wouldn't use it, maybe the president would. It worked and Trump loved it, explained administration officials.
The poster crystallized the contentious divide between career diplomats at the State Department and Trump's political appointees when it comes to messaging on Iran.
"If nobody is listening, it is useless," explained a political appointee at the State Department. "We need something that jars people out of their complacency. If we can't get people's attention, then we are not communicating our policy. And we are certainly not going to get their attention if we bore them to death."
The "Game of Thrones" poster was considered particularly successful in the eyes of the Trump administration because it broke through during the midterm elections, to a domestic U.S. audience. The fear from career diplomats is that the shock-factor-driven digital approach is not actually bolstering the administration's policy. They see it as diluting very serious policy.
"I don't see how it is effective. I worry that it will, in the end, detract from what we have said is the policy: We want to increase pressure on the Iranian regime to get an all-comprehensive deal," explained a State Department official who has worked on Iran during this administration. "These ideas seem to be speaking more to a domestic audience, and that is not going to move the needle on Iran's calculus on if they will work with us on a new deal."
The Trump administration has stressed that it is seeking to use digital content to reach the Iranian people. U.S. Special Representative to Iran Brian Hook has taken questions from Farsi speakers online. And the recent video that he recorded in front of the former Iranian Embassy in Washington caught the attention of some Iranians online.
It was the content of Hook's video, however, that raised alarm among some diplomats. His message seemed at odds with the administration's repeated claim that it is not pressing for regime change in Iran. Hook said the U.S. wanted to turn over the embassy's keys to a "truly representative Iranian government."
Similar language has been used in other digital content targeting Iran. Still, the administration claims it does not want to evoke regime change, it just wants to support the Iranian people.
Ahead of last week's U.S.-sponsored Warsaw Middle East Summit -- which focused in large part on Iran -- the hashtag #WeSupportPolandSummit trended in Iran. However, some studies of the hashtag, such as one conducted by Geoff Golberg, who is the co-founder of a blockchain index, suggested it was driven in large part by bots.
State Departments officials claimed that happened organically and said it was not "purely" a bot-driven activity.
Yet the Iran digital strategy -- flooding the zone with anti-Iran messaging -- has also confused citizens in countries that are U.S. allies.
The way the administration has used Facebook to post anti-Iranian messages is another departure from the traditional use of that platform by the State Department. The Trump administration posted notices about U.S. Iran sanctions on the Facebook pages of U.S. embassies around the world in November -- primarily in the Middle East. The Facebook pages have historically been used as forums to draw attention to U.S. educational programs in the country or cross-cultural events, rather than sanctions rollouts. The posts provoked an angry response and career diplomats took notice.
In some cases the political appointees' brainstorms for digital content and messaging have gone so far overboard that they have been shut down completely.
Last year one of the political appointees called up the Iran desk with an idea to find a Persian bakery in Washington, have it make rocket-shaped cookies and send them to all the countries within missile-launching range of Iran. The idea was rejected before it turned into anything, but State Department diplomats tell CNN they have had to shut down many similar ideas.
Tweets from the personal accounts of political appointees have also made many career diplomats uncomfortable.
Former State Department officials were shocked. John Kirby, a CNN national security analyst who was a State Department spokesperson during the Obama administration, said using social media for snarky comments "cheapens" diplomacy and would not have been accepted during the Obama administration.
"If I had posted something about him like this on social media, Secretary Kerry would have -- rightly -- been incensed. I might even have been fired," said Kirby.