In an Oct. 31 memo reviewed by Just the News, Secretary of State Antony Blinken encourages diplomatic and consular posts worldwide to promote
"Cat Park," funded by State's Global Engagement Center (GEC) and U.S. Embassy The Hague and released to coincide with UNESCO's
Global Media and Information Literacy Week.
At least two embassies have already followed through. "Ever wondered if that forwarded message in your WhatsApp group is completely true?" the Uganda embassy tweeted.
The game "inoculates players ... by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracies theories and incite real-world violence," according to the memo, which was obtained by former Trump White House aide Stephen Miller's America First Legal.
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FFO gave Just the News the memo and its analysis of the "behavior modification" game, which concludes that Cat Park "gets young people to subliminally perceive that social media posts opposing government corruption are primarily done by
disinformation purveyors." It deems GEC "the global-facing political censorship arm of the Internet."
The game is "simply anti-populist," FFO Executive Director and former State official Mike Benz said. "This appears to be the State Department picking winners and losers in the marketplace of political beliefs, not protecting Americans from foreign disinformation."