Miami, August 24 (RHC)—While the alleged use by Russia of an online campaign to meddle in the 2016 elections is at the center of media attention in the U.S., Washington has put together its own plans to use Facebook to foment dissent clandestinely in Cuba.
According to the weekly Miami New Times, at the center of those plans is the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which runs the Miami-based Radio Martí, TV Martí, and Martí Noticias.
The plans are spelled out in budget documents for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years from the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors. The agency says the government has plans to use "native" and "non-branded" Cuban Facebook accounts to spread government-created content without informing Cuban Facebook users.
The budget documents cited by the weekly suggest the OCB planned to spread U.S. propaganda through Facebook channels designed to fool Cuban users into thinking the information was coming from other Cuban users — not the OCB’s offices in Miami.