The more that is understood about the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the more it becomes clear that Aldous Huxley’s vision of an oppressive society seems to fit the mold. It is the subtle deception and constant, manufactured confusion at the hands of the most powerful entities in the U.S. government that allows for them to operate in ways that subvert our rights, our perception of the world and our control in what we see and hear. MintPress News reporter Alan MacLeod has been pulling back the curtain on the government’s duplicitous involvement in the social media world for months.
In this week’s Scheer Intelligence, MacLeod joins host Robert Scheer to break down his research and reporting, examining just how easy it is to find the moles and spooks working at some of the most influential positions at Meta, Twitter, TikTok and other platforms. His latest piece, “TikTok: Chinese Trojan Horse is Run by State Department Officials," exposes the recent outrage and China baiting surrounding the popular app as a front for what is really happening behind the scenes.
Rather than overt censorship, the U.S. government can bend the rules and maintain their control of information through the hiring of its former employees at these massive social media conglomerates. “In this case, we really have the best of both worlds for the U.S. government,” MacLeod says. “They get to keep these private companies, so-called private companies, at arm's length, all the while filling their ranks with former State Department officials, former officials who worked at the White House or the Department of Defense or the FBI or the CIA.”
The hysteria surrounding the recent TikTok-themed congressional hearing proves to be a distraction, as MacLeod affirms: “Even as we're talking about TikTok being this Chinese trojan horse, a casual glance at its trust and safety department or its content moderation department strongly suggests something very different, that it's actually much closer to Washington than it is to Beijing.”