Syria: Social Media TR Sep12

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

• Social media is a powerful, yet difficult to control, element across most potential operational environments (OE).
• Both sides of the Syrian conflict are using social media to further their own particular cause.
• The same videos are being used by both sides to define the same incident in their favor.
• The Syrian government has used phishing and other techniques to identify protesters and other opposition participants.
• The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is a loosely aligned group of young hackers using their hacking skills in support of the Assad regime.
• Social media has made the information environment much noisier and more confusing.
• Crowd mapping has the potential to create a more accurate picture of events happening on the ground.
• A critical weakness of social media lies in the inability, often, to verify the accuracy and credibility of information and videos.