US authorities on the example of pizza showed the Americans the danger of the Russian threat

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning that Russian agents could try to divide Americans using heated debates, such as the debate over whether pineapple is an appropriate topping for pizza.

Фото: Depositphotos

This seemingly funny warning seeks to convey an important message, notes ABC News. Published July 17 by the Agency for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security, warning aims to help Americans identify and defend against propaganda campaigns from Russia and other foreign opponents.

The DHS warning says Russian agents are capable of simultaneously insisting that “it is un-American to oppose pineapple on pizza!” and promote posts with the slogan “Millennials are destroying pizza!”

“Foreign influencers continually seek opportunities to inflame already hot-button issues in the United States,” the DHS message said. “They don’t do this to win an argument; they want to divide us."

According to the warning, foreign intervention usually follows certain patterns.

First, foreign agents reveal a controversial problem, though probably not as stupid as the question of whether pineapple is a suitable pizza toppings.

“No matter how you slice your pizza, Americans argue about fruit toppings,” the DHS document notes.

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Once they identify a target, foreign agents monitor the activity of social media accounts, often reusing or renaming accounts "to pollute these debates with misinformation and make our positions more extreme, causing conflict or 'trolling' people online," the alert said.

It also says that “the most extreme version of the arguments on both sides of the problem” often later becomes a “legitimate source of information,” conveying a message to a wider audience.

Photo: Department of Homeland Security

The latest step in foreign interference is for agents to take a dispute started in cyberspace and turn it into something “very real—Americans yelling at Americans,” DHS warns.

“In the past, Kremlin agents have organized or financed protests to further inflame divisions among Americans. They create event pages and ask subscribers to go to them,” the agency reports.

The department cited an example: if the “war with pineapple” would be a more serious problem, a foreign agent could tell the followers of the Internet wave: “Join the pizza lovers in the center of the city, go out for the pineapple march!”.

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However, DHS jokingly explained that: “To date, we have no evidence that Russia (or any other country) is actively conducting information operations against pizza toppings.”

Russia's widespread intervention in the 2016 presidential campaign of the year forces the US authorities to prepare for what may happen in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election of the year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not only seeking to weaken the United States in the coming years, but also to keep power in his hands, said Suzanne Spalding, a former high-ranking DHS official who helped lead the US efforts to counter Russian cyber attacks.

“He doesn't want [Russian citizens] to see the United States and liberal democracy as something they should aspire to. He wants to present this whole thing as democracy in chaos,” Spaulding said at the annual Aspen Security conference in Aspen, Colorado.

When it comes to cyber operations against foreign opponents, Russia is “practicing jujitsu”, trying to use the First Amendment and America’s freedom of speech “against us,” Spalding said.

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