Israeli Government Pays Surfers for Positive Internet Comments

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Israel recently announced a special tuition assistance program for university students who agree to regularly post messages on the Internet to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda. This sort of thing has been around for over a decade and many Internet users are becoming aware of paid messages showing up in social media and messaging areas throughout the Internet.

This is especially true in China, where the concept began (of quietly paying Internet users a small fee to post pro-government responses on message boards where some company or the government is being criticized or maligned). For some members of the original Chinese “50 Cent Party” it was a full time job, receiving up to 50 cents (two yuan) each for up to a hundred pro-government messages posted a day, using several dozen different accounts. But most of the posters are volunteers or just do it to earn a little extra money. If you can post in foreign languages, especially colloquial English, you make more. Very few members of the “50 Cent Army” (as the mercenary posters were also known) made lots of money and most were reviled by their online peers as a bunch of trolls (those who leave messages to annoy rather than inform or amuse).

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The new Israeli program has not become official yet and may die from a reality check, as its proponents realize (if they don’t already) the history of these techniques. While Israel is unique in being one of the few countries to admit doing this, many others have been caught at it and continue to deny any official involvement. One recent example is North Korea, which South Korea believes has at least 200 operatives who are basically full-time Internet Apes, whose sole task is to battle anti-North Korean sentiments on South Korean Internet message areas and push the idea that North Korea is a better place to live than it actually is.

Source: Strategy Page