{"id":71262,"date":"2024-09-17T14:36:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/09\/17\/military-influencers-could-help-fight-disinformation-experts-argue\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:37:17","slug":"military-influencers-could-help-fight-disinformation-experts-argue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/2024\/09\/17\/military-influencers-could-help-fight-disinformation-experts-argue\/","title":{"rendered":"Military influencers could help fight disinformation, experts argue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some U.S. service members share their military experiences on social media, garnering hundreds \u2014 and sometimes thousands \u2014 of followers by posting videos explaining the realities of deployments aboard ship, showing troops parachuting out of aircraft or cracking jokes about the different services, among other aspects of military life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the video-sharing platform TikTok, this type of content is so prevalent that it earned its own label: \u201cmiltok.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few of the more popular profiles post disclaimers on their pages indicating their content does not represent the Defense Department. But some experts studying the use of disinformation in warfare think it should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers with RAND Corp. suggested the Pentagon empower active-duty influencers<\/a> to tell stories about their service on social media as a means to build support for the military and protect against attempts to undermine it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAND studied Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to understand how U.S. enemies could weaponize disinformation in future wars, as well as draw lessons from Ukraine\u2019s response. They expect U.S. adversaries to sow false narratives in future wars as a way to fray alliances, encourage attacks against U.S. forces and undermine American service members\u2019 will to fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their report, shared earlier this month, contained 12 recommendations for the U.S. government, including several calls to action for the Defense Department. In their study of the Ukraine-Russian war, researchers discovered that social media posts by Ukrainians \u2014 including Ukrainian troops serving on the front lines \u2014 created a groundswell of support that helped defend against Russian disinformation campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine\u2019s actions could serve as a blueprint for that type of effort in the United States, the researchers said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe U.S. military and broader U.S. government should strategically seek to promote such online voices to help support U.S. national security objectives,\u201d the Rand Corp. report reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Ukrainian military press officer shows the debris of a Russian Su-34 aircraft at a collection point of destroyed Russian armored vehicles on Oct. 5, 2022. (Yasuyoshi Chiba\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Ukrainian military allowed troops to post on social media and gave them only broad guidelines for using it in order to leverage soldiers\u2019 creativity, the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Ukrainian officer garnered more than 140,000 followers<\/a> on X by sharing photos of his unit\u2019s daily activities. Another 132,000 people follow a Ukrainian service member who posts on TikTok about cooking meals in war-torn areas of the country<\/a>. His bio reads, \u201ca cook from the hell of war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These and other military influencers help show the human side to war, said the RAND report, which was authored by Todd Helmus<\/a> and Khrystyna Holynska<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has helped to personalize the content and the war in ways that official, government-produced slick propaganda videos could never match,\u201d the report states. \u201cThe result is that many Americans and Europeans are reminded of the war, its costs, and Ukraine\u2019s tactical victories every time they scroll through Twitter or TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RAND researchers weren\u2019t the first to recommend that DOD support social media influencers in the ranks as a means to combat disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Col. Mike Knapp, a U.S. Air Force pilot and social media specialist, wrote commentary for the Modern War Institute in January, arguing the services should provide an influencer toolkit<\/a> and work to authenticate the social media profiles of service members gaining traction on the platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. military currently does not encourage social media use<\/a> and Army rules actively restrict what soldiers can share on their personal accounts, Helmus wrote in research last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t