Social media manipulation
Cole Lions made this Official Information request to Government Communications Security Bureau
The request was successful.
From: Cole Lions
Dear Government Communications Security Bureau,
Does any New Zealand government authority currently employ, either directly or outsource, Internet trolls or fake social media account farms in order to manipulate public opinion through social media comment sections?
I.E, groups of individuals or companies whos purpose is to make social media posts and their content appear either popular or unpopular by spamming social media comments and reply's with positive or negative posts.
If any authority directly employs people to do this:
Which authority does?
How many accounts does it use?
How many employees does it have?
What is their budget?
If this is outsourced:
Who is it outsourced to?
What does this cost?
Yours faithfully,
Cole Lions
From: Information (GCSB)
Government Communications Security Bureau
Kia ora
Thank you for your message. We endeavour to respond to emails within one
working day.
Kind regards
GCSB
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From: Information (GCSB)
Government Communications Security Bureau
Kia ora Cole,
We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your official information request dated 26 September as outlined below.
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than 22 October 2021, being 20 working days after the day that your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe. We note that your request asks for information about "any New Zealand government authority". Please be aware that the GCSB can provide you with a response from GCSB, not on behalf of any other agencies.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact [GCSB request email]. If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
Ngā mihi
GCSB
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From: Information (GCSB)
Government Communications Security Bureau
Kia ora Cole
Please find attached a response to your OIA request (below) regarding social media manipulation.
Kind regards
GCSB
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