The US Defense Department’s online campaign to combat propaganda by the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group has failed to reach its objectives due to incompetence, cronyism and skewed data, according to a new report.
Internal documents emails, photographs and interviews with over a dozen people involved in the web operation, known as “WebOps,” shows that the Pentagon program has resulted in contractors getting enriched, rather than disrupting the Takfiri group’s recruitment through social media, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Operated by a small group of civilian contractors and military officers working with the US Central Command’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the program relies heavily on Arabic-speaking analysts who scour Twitter and other social media platforms to find potential Daesh recruits.
Their mission is to contact vulnerable users and urge them not to join terror groups.
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However, AP’s interviews with current and…