@ciaranmak@mastodon.ie A lot of this is indeed like CIA counter-intelligence, destabilisation or infiltration operations but they've never been the only ones in that game. Corporations and entire industries have had access to the same sort of, shall we say, "capabilities" for quite some time. Maybe we're seeing more of a shift from centralised (but at arm's length) application to a more mercenary style problem these days? It's the tail (corporations, like Thiel's) wagging the dog (CIA, others), it seem. No ideology apart from making the world safe for billionaires...