Unnerving Ronan Farrow investigation shows how an Israeli intel firm tried to play with Americans' m
SARAH K. BURRIS
14 FEB 2019 AT 15:11 ET
It was revealed this week that special counsel Robert Mueller is seeking out information about the Psy-Group, an Israeli intelligence firm that specializes in the intellectual and emotional manipulation of minds. In an extensive investigation, New Yorker researcher and writer Ronan Farrow unveiled the specialized way in which it “covertly” spread messages to influence not just beliefs, but behavior as well.
Cambridge Analytica was already outed as a company using questionable practices to mine personal Facebook data from quizzes and various other apps. The data, however, didn’t just extend to those who opted in, but to anyone they were friends with. Psy-Group was another firm that obtained digital information, but they are an outlier as a company who claims to change and shape voters’ minds using “lax government oversight.”
“Social media allows you to reach virtually anyone and to play with their minds,” the New Yorker quoted Uzi Shaya, who previously served as a senior Israeli intelligence officer. “You can do whatever you want. You can be whoever you want. It’s a place where wars are fought, elections are won, and terror is promoted. There are no regulations. It is a no man’s land.”
Farrow detailed the way in which the Psy-Group worked in Amsterdam to promote a religious sect named the Brunstad Christian Church. The company promoted the group’s leader who claimed to have written a book that is more important than the Bible. They collected and disseminated intelligence about the leader’s political rivals. Farrow quoted that the church denies all of this, saying they would never consider “any book” to be more important than the Bible.
More:
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/unnerving-ronan-farrow-investigation-shows-israeli-intel-firm-tried-play-americans-minds/?utm_source=push_notifications
