4. The US Government Used Twitter To Try And Stir Up Unrest In Cuba
The ability for Twitter to play a crucial role in the outcome of any form of mass political unrest has been known for some time - the Green Movement of Iran in 2009 was so Twitter-led that some even dubbed it the "Twitter Revolution". The intelligence agencies in America are all too aware of the potential power of Twitter to galvanise the masses in revolt against the government, and even went so far as to try and stir up political unrest in Cuba using the social media tool. The government-backed organisation USAid launched ZunZuneo, a social network they hoped could be used to organise "smart mobs" to trigger a Cuban spring. The plan didn't quite work out as was expected and ZunZuneo gradually disappeared before vanishing entirely in 2012. Perhaps in the future similar efforts to destabilise enemy nations through the use of social media might emerge with more success.
