The United States Army announced a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to fight “adversarial information campaigns.”
The university received $5 million from the Army Research Office to “defend against emerging cognitive threats,” according to a press release.
According to the founding director of the university’s Collaboration for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) Research Center Dr. Nitin Agarwal, “Narratives on social media could be easily weaponized and propagated at frighteningly fast speeds.”
“Such insidious threats that attempt to influence beliefs and behaviors need to be considered as modern weapons of cognitive hijacking. We need to develop scientific approaches to combat these emerging threats in a global context, equip our warfighters with these capabilities, and strengthen community resiliency.”
“We are extremely grateful to the Army Research Office, UA Little Rock leadership and U.S. Sen. John Boozman for championing this vital research,” Agarwal expressed. “It helps position the COSMOS Research Center at the forefront of developing capabilities to combat cognitive threats. The investment will help put these capabilities in the hands of our warfighters to ultimately strengthen our national defense and security apparatus.”
Argarwal investigates governments and organizations that use communication tactics to carry out “cognitive attack campaigns” through social media platforms.
The Army has partnered with the investigations because they help “identify how adversaries are promoting certain narratives via social media, how such narratives resonate with the target audience, and how those narratives can be combated.”
Arkansas Senator John Boozman (R), who supports the program, said, “The evolving nature of social media and the changing tactics our adversaries use to spread misinformation requires us to develop a strategy to respond,” adding, “Dr. Agarwal’s research will help create critical tools to combat bad actors on these platforms. I’m proud to support Arkansas’s role in advancing solutions to counter cyber threats.”
The program will run through 2025.
