The Ministry of Defense of Japan starts research on controlling public opinion

We have nothing but deep respect for Japan and the Japanese language. However, HN is an English-language site, so posts here need to be in English. (It's hard enough to get people to read the articles, even when they are.) I suppose the thing to do is to wait until this story is reported in English somewhere, and then post that. I'm sorry!

Here&#x27;s a translation: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nordot-app.translate.goog&#x2F;973917552334143488?_x_tr_sl=auto&amp;_x_tr_tl=en&amp;_x_tr_pto=wapp" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nordot-app.translate.goog&#x2F;973917552334143488?_x_tr_s...</a><p><pre><code> # Ministry of Defense launches research on manipulating public opinion Utilizing AI, guided by SNS According to interviews with several government officials on the 9th, the Ministry of Defense has begun research on using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to guide domestic public opinion on exchange sites (SNS). Influential &quot;influencers&quot; on the Internet unwittingly induce the ministry to transmit information that is advantageous to the ministry, thereby broadening support for defense policies, fostering hostility toward specific countries in times of crisis, The goal is to create a trend in the Internet space that dispels anti-war and anti-war momentum. China, Russia and other countries are actively engaged in information warfare. The Ministry of Defense has determined that Japan also needs to acquire capabilities in this area. The three revised security-related documents will also include measures to improve the ability to deal with information warfare.</code></pre>

To put into perspective how scary that is, we have to remember that the Japanese government had hired (paid with our taxes) a troll farm to influence Twitter users before the 2021 elections. When the scandal was unveiled the Twitter account name went famous: &quot;Dappi&quot; (actually it was only one of the many accounts of this propaganda).<p>In particular, it was depicting leftist politicians as corrupted, weak, encouraging insults towards them, etc.<p>So, it may seem to you &quot;just fair&quot; that the Japanese government develops such techniques as a response to China and Russia doing the same, but here there is the knowledge that the Japanese government, under LDP rule (center-right to far-right), already have used these kind of weapons against its own population in the recent past.

What, isn&#x27;t Dentsu doing a good enough job?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Dentsu" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Dentsu</a>

If they are really just now &quot;starting&quot; research, they could do worse than to consult prior art, eg the US, which has published works several works (since at least 1914) on programs aimed at domestic public opinion.