ZunZuneo, Cuban slang for a hummingbird's tweet, is the project that brought a Twitter-like text messaging network to Cuba. During its peak, it attracted tens of thousands of mobile followers.
The "Cuban Twitter" was also controlled by the U.S. government and was part of a plan to inspire young Cubans to rebel against Fidel Castro, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Agency for International Development was behind the covert project that went from 2009 to 2012, which used $1.6 million publicly noted for "an unspecified project in Pakistan" and set up offshore front companies to hide ties, according to the AP's investigation. USAID is in charge of allocating humanitarian aid to countries in need.
The program's goal was to leverage a growing social network via text to circumvent the communist Cuban government's tight control of the Internet. It would blast out news stories — and gather personal data from its predominantly young Cuban users.
As more people joined, the plan was to send out politically themed news stories, with the hope that they would trigger "smart mobs" and "get the transition process going again toward democratic change," according to the AP.
"There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement," reads a 2010 document from contractor Mobile Accord that the AP acquired.
The investigation brings up questions about disclosure of covert operations, and whether the White House was aware of the mission. The U.S. continues to have an economic embargo in place on Cuba.
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Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1k38XFF
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