The Office of Advanced Research Projects, US Department of Defense DARPA will deal with fake news and information attacks. The agency is looking for contractors to develop special software that can identify fakes among text news, as well as recognize videos edited using deep fake technology. It is reported by Bloomberg.

To combat such materials, DARPA will develop a system of algorithms that can recognize fakes in the media and social networks before they become viral, Bloomberg reports. Algorithms will form the basis of SemaFor (Semantic Forensics) technology - the Semantic Forensics program, as well as MediFor - Media Forensics.

“The technologies developed under the Semantic Forensics program will help identify, deter, and analyze enemy disinformation campaigns,” the program’s concept posted on the DARPA website says.

Bloomberg reports that one of the project managers, Matt Turek, met on 29 August with potential developers in Arlington, where the Pentagon is located. The budget for the Semantic Forensics Program is still unknown.

Deep fake is usually a video or audio recording that has been edited using neural networks or machine learning. After the appearance on the Internet of several videos with shots from popular Hollywood films, “deep fakes” attracted everyone's attention, where other actors were mounted instead of leading actors using neural networks.

At the same time, the overall quality of the clips remains quite high, and sometimes it can be difficult for an untrained user to distinguish a fake from the original.

An increasing number of security experts in the United States and Western European countries have noted that the spread of these technologies will lead to a new outbreak of information warfare, which will be waged with the help of edited compromising videos, the main characters of which will be politicians or other public figures.

“Although many of these materials are produced for entertainment or artistic purposes, others can be used for hostile purposes, such as propaganda or disinformation campaigns,” the DARPA website says.

As noted in a conversation with RT, a military political scientist, head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the REU named after Plekhanova Andrei Koshkin, the acquisition of expensive programs and the creation of infrastructure suggests that the US Department of Defense has an interest in the field of information impact.

“The Pentagon, with an impressive budget, sees the need to reliably curb the information space and develop its military dominance in this area. Most likely, it will be an attacking system, not a defensive one, ”said Koshkin.

According to a political scientist, the US defense sector expects to use such technologies in future hybrid wars.

“I think the United States wants in the first place to seriously affect the informational and psychological stability of residents of the states with which they will be forced to fight or which they plan to influence, and, naturally, to decompose the enemy’s troops,” the expert noted.

Do not have time for the election

According to the concept of the Semantic Forensic Science program, the algorithms will be tuned using a special test, during which it will be necessary to detect 5 thousand fakes among 250 thousand text news materials and 250 thousand publications on social networks.

  • Cybernetic attacks
  • © JACK GUEZ / AFP

The program is designed for four years. Initially, the object of the study will be news and social networks, followed by an analysis of "technical propaganda", reports DARPA.

“The introduction of a set of algorithms for detecting semantic discrepancies will significantly complicate the situation of distributors of fake materials. They will be forced to follow every little thing, while it will be enough for the other side to find one or two inaccuracies, ”the concept of the Semantic Forensics program says.

However, a period of four years does not suit American experts who believe that such technologies should be used in the upcoming US presidential elections in November 2020.

“The implementation schedule is too slow, all a bit like PR. We need to work with citizens to increase information literacy, as well as adopt the necessary legislation. But politicians have no motivation to change this state of affairs, and there is a conflict of interest, since these same platforms for distributing fakes help them win the election, ”Bloomberg quotes Jennifer Graigill, a communications professor at Syracuse University (New York) .

Recall that in the USA, the conspiracy theological version that the 2016 elections to Donald Trump allegedly helped win the special services of Russia, intervening in the election process, continues to be popular.

Despite the absence of any evidence of such an interference, the mainstream media is still discussing this topic. In particular, according to many American publications, politicians and experts, Russia allegedly used fake news to achieve this goal.

Information opportunities

Analysts point out that American experts, who regretted that this technology would not be ready for the election, did not have questions why the military agency DARPA, and not the US Federal Communications Commission, regulating activities, will be engaged in the recognition of fake news MASS MEDIA.

  • DARPA Headquarters
  • © Wikipedia

Shortly before the release of information about the SemiFor program, the Pentagon was already making statements that the US Army was preparing to fight for dominance in the information space.

In particular, such a statement was made by General Paul Funk, head of the US Army Command for Training and Doctrine Development (TRADOC).

This position was also voiced by Lieutenant General Stephen Fogarty, head of the US Army Cyber ​​Command. Speaking at a conference of the TechNet Augusta 2019 Association of Telecommunications and Electronics Specialists, he said that his agency would change its name and be reoriented to waging information wars that use fake news.

“I need autonomous capabilities, both offensive and defensive. I should be able, in fact, to absorb what is distributed on the Internet in real time, to catch from this stream what is related to attempts to mislead and exert influence, and also to quickly turn all this in our favor to fulfill the same tasks, ”said the American military leader.

Generals Funk and Fogarty, speaking at the conference, noted that Russia is one of the opponents to whom the US military should counteract in the information field.

With an eye on the enemy

The US Department of Defense under the slogans of protecting security expects to launch a new round of information wars around the world, says Andrei Koshkin.

“In this case, we can draw an analogy with the missile defense system that the Americans installed in Romania and Poland and which is allegedly directed against Iranian missiles. Only now it became clear to everyone that these are advanced and attacking elements and they are directed specifically against Russia, ”the expert noted.

The SemiFor system is declared as a tool for protecting against fakes, however it is an offensive information weapon that can automatically create attacks on the information infrastructure of a potential adversary, political analyst Alexander Asafov said.

“In addition, such automated systems will allow the creation of information attacks that do not require the involvement of a large number of people, this is promising, since it is obvious that information attacks can more effectively influence the internal affairs of other countries. I think that these systems are already largely being created, designed and used, for example, against Venezuela, ”the expert concluded.