A U.S. government agency reportedly tried a new tactic to spur unrest in Cuba - social networking. Officials put together bare-bones version of Twitter in an attempt to allow thousands of Cubans to communicate without the communist Cuban government knowing.
The Associated Press obtained thousands of pages of documents that show that Joe McSpedon, an official for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and a team of tech contractors tried to put the social network together to help Cubans break their government’s Internet restrictions. The AP also said it conducted interviews with those involved.
They called the social network ZunZuneo, a slang term for the tweet of a hummingbird. The system used text messaging to keep the Cuban government from knowing. It was financed using foreign banks and there were shell companies created.
According to VOA News, the report says that tens of thousands of subscribers signed up and that the USAID project did continue for over two years. However, it’s not known if the White House even knew about it. USAID officials wouldn't tell the AP who approved of the project.
USAID spokesman Matt Herrick told the AP that it’s proud of what it does in Cuba and insists that the humanitarian agency isn’t used for covert operations.