Ivan Raiklin
@IvanRaiklin
Here we go! Let the #MOATF Games begin!
Quote
Michael Shellenberger
@shellenberger
·
1h
TWITTER FILES - CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the most famous of the 18 US government agencies that comprise the Intelligence Community (IC) of the United States of America. Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the law strictly prohibits CIA
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11:58 AM · May 23, 2024
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16.6K
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https://x.com/ivanraiklin/status/1793672795924373757
>Here we go!Let the #MOATF Games begin!
Ninnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Michael Shellenberger
@shellenberger
TWITTER FILES - CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the most famous of the 18 US government agencies that comprise the Intelligence Community (IC) of the United States of America. Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the law strictly prohibits CIA employees or contractors from spying upon or running clandestine operations against American citizens on US soil.
But now, a new Twitter Files investigation reveals that a member of the Board of Trustees of the CIA’s mission-driven venture capital firm and ostensibly “former” IC and CIA analysts were involved in a 2021-2022 effort to take over Twitter’s content management system.
The effort also involved:
— a long-time IC contractor and senior Department of Defense R&D official who spent years developing technologies to detect whistleblowers (“insider threats”) like Edward Snowden and Wikileaks’ leakers;
— the proposed head of the DHS’ aborted Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz, who aided US military and NATO “hybrid war” operations in Europe;
— Jim Baker, who, as FBI General Counsel, helped start the Russiagate hoax, and, as Twitter’s Deputy General Counsel, urged Twitter executives to censor The New York Post story about Hunter Biden.
https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1604902028852924416
These existing or former IC employees, contractors, or intermediaries weren’t satisfied with simply controlling Twitter. They also wanted to use PayPal, Amazon Web Services, and GoDaddy in a totalizing effort to de-platform, de-monetize, and excommunicate from the Internet entirely those individuals that the IC et al. deems to be a threat.
There is much that we still do not know about the effort. We do not know if officials within the CIA or any other IC organization ran the operation. It is possible that the only individuals involved in the effort were the ones we discovered. And none of the individuals involved responded to our request for information except for one.
But thousands of pages of Twitter Files and documents contained therein paint a clear picture of an organized operation by existing or former IC employees and contractors, using well-established IC tradecraft, to take control of Twitter’s content moderation.
Our investigation comes at a moment when governments and intelligence agencies around the world are stepping up their efforts to monitor and censor their citizens. It thus has large implications for policymakers and the public in Western nations that look to the US as a model for free speech and citizen control of the military.
This is a joint Public-Racket investigation. The authors are @Shellenberger
@MTaibbi
and @GalexyBrane
. As always, the only condition we agreed to in publishing this was to first publish on X. At the end of this thread, we explain why and how this investigation began.
Here we go…
11:31 AM · May 23, 2024
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142.9K
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https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1793666016704356735
>>Here we go!Let the #MOATF Games begin!
>Ninnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
>Michael Shellenberger
Weird Coincidence
Kaplan
>Written by Alex Kaplan
Alethea group funding from Google among others
April 9, 2024
News
Alethea Raises $20M in Series B Funding for Disinformation Mitigation
Alethea Closes $10M Series A Financing Led by Ballistic Ventures
Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA – April 9, 2024 – Alethea, the leading technology company in disinformation detection and mitigation, announced the close of a $20M Series B funding round led by GV, with participation from Ballistic Ventures, who led Alethea’s Series A funding in 2022. Also participating in the round is Hakluyt Capital, which invests alongside leading venture capital funds, targeting companies with high growth potential and international ambitions. This new investment signifies investor confidence in Alethea's vision, technology capabilities, and the transformative impact the company will have on creating a more secure digital environment. The new funding brings Alethea’s total raised to $34M.
“Companies' biggest vulnerabilities today lie outside of their own systems, and the incoming threats we have to worry about are from those who are weaponizing information to break into and manipulate customer, investor, and stakeholder decisions,”said Lisa Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Alethea. “We built our Artemis product to move organizations from passive listening to active risk management. Since the launch, our customers have been able to use Artemis to detect and prebunk threats early, use our insights to inform mitigation responses, and better protect themselves from increasingly sophisticated adversaries.”
With its flagship product, Artemis, Alethea is redefining the early warning of security risks, detecting the first signs of cyber attacks, disinformation and misinformation narratives, and domestic and foreign influence operations earlier than previously possible. Using AI to detect and assess previously invisible risks on niche social media platforms, alternative forums and spaces, and known extremist communities, Artemis alerts communications, risk and intel, and security teams of malicious actors, vulnerable assets, and threats of physical violence. Artemis analyzes billions of data points across a variety of disparate data sources and multiple languages to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive picture of the adversary and their tactics, techniques, and procedures.
The Series B investment will allow Alethea to scale sales and marketing efforts to bring its solutions to every organization or company with an online presence, grow the team to bring on new functions and expand existing functions, and enhance Artemis’ features and capabilities to provide tailored solutions that address evolving customer challenges.
“Alethea takes a novel, machine-learning driven approach to protect company brand reputations from the potential damages of disinformation campaigns and social media manipulation,” said Karim Faris, General Partner at GV. “The rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence creates a more urgent need for Alethea's technology, and the company continues to see strong adoption of its advanced analytics among major enterprises. We're excited to support Lisa Kaplan and the entire team as they protect the bottom lines of Fortune 500 companies in the new AI-driven social information era.”
“Disinformation is the new malware – yet a far more insidious threat to corporations, individuals and our open democracy,” said Ted Schlein, Co-founder and General Partner at Ballistic Ventures. “Our continued investment in Alethea underscores our confidence in their innovative approach to empowering a broad range of customers – from the Fortune 50 to the public sector – in combating disinformation and taking actions that safeguard our society's digital future.”
Alethea was represented by outside counsel WilmerHale in the Series B transaction.
New Russian Interference Tactics in 2024 US Presidential Election
Alethea recently released a groundbreaking report, exclusively covered by The New York Times,on Russia's new disinformation tactics to interfere in the U.S. elections and global democracies. Over the last several months, the Alethea team has been investigating and analyzing a network of accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and websites that we assess are seeking to divide Americans and amplify Russian propaganda – specifically counter-Ukraine messaging – ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Based on both the content shared and behaviors of these assets, Alethea’s report found that this network operates on behalf of Russia’s main military intelligence directorate, commonly known as the GRU.
>Alethea group funding from Google among others
This network is using a new amplification tactic, dubbed “Invisible Ink” by Alethea, including using the X platform in novel ways which hamper research efforts, supported by large scale automated amplification systems. The accounts in this network pose as conservative voters and amplify opposition to military aid funding to Ukraine. Past Russian information operations targeted both sides of the political spectrum to foment existing societal divisions. In this network, we assess that the GRU targets more specific segments of the U.S. electorate in advance of the 2024 presidential election to promote candidates and policies favorable to Russian military objectives in Ukraine.
Visit the Alethea careers page for more information on open positions across data science, product, engineering, finance, operations, and marketing and sales.
Sign up for a demo of Artemis and to learn more about how the product leverages machine learning and advanced analytics to detect online threats at origination, enabling users to mitigate potential risks before they become crises.
About Alethea
Alethea is a technology company helping the Fortune 500, private companies, and nonprofits protect themselves from harms stemming from disinformation. Leveraging its multi-channel machine learning platform, Artemis, Alethea detects disinformation narratives across the internet, enabling customers to proactively defend against this pervasive threat. With Artemis-powered early detection, Alethea customers can protect their reputations, key assets, physical safety and market value. The company was founded in 2019 and is woman-owned. Learn more at alethea.com.
https://alethea.com/insights/alethea-raises-20m-in-series-b-funding-for-disinformation-mitigation