Contributed by: kellyseal on Monday, September 23 2024 @ 01:36 pm
Last modified on Monday, September 23 2024 @ 01:46 pm
The United States military has allegedly run an ad campaign on dating app Tinder in Lebanon warning the app users that it is “fully prepared” to “protect its partners” according to The New York Post.
The news comes as tensions are rising in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war rages on. One journalist Seamus Malekafzali posted on X that he was on the dating app while in Lebanon, but instead of being presented with potential matches to swipe through, he saw an ad from CENTCOM (US Central Command).
The ad he saw read that CENTCOM is: “fully prepared and ready with F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 Tudor Bolt supersonic fighters currently in the region,” written in Arabic, along with a photo of an A-10 warplane, according to The New York Post[*1] .
He received another ad with a picture of an F-16 fighter jet that said users shouldn’t “take up arms against the United States and its partners.”
A third ad read: “The United States will protect its partners against the threats of the Iranian regime and its proxies.”
When Malekafzali swiped right on one of the ads, he was brought to a post on the X platform from US Central Command. Again, the images were of America’s warplanes and there were more messages of warning written in Arabic. “An F-16 Fighting Falcon and an A-10 Thunderbolt fly within the US Central Command area of responsibility.”
The Washington Post[*2] reached out to CENTCOM to verify the posts, but CENTCOM declined to comment and that it does not generally discuss information operations.
However, a defense official told The Washington Post that “broadly speaking and as a matter of policy, the Department of Defense does conduct military information operations in support of our national security priorities. These activities must be undertaken in compliance with U.S. law and DOD policy, and we are committed to enforcing those safeguards.”
Tinder has responded by removing the ads from its platform, saying that they violate the app’s policies on violent and political messaging.
All military psy ops campaigns are subject to an approval process set by the Pentagon, according to The Washington Post. The approval is contingent upon the objectives, potential target audiences, and circumstances of the campaign and is typically coordinated with another government agency.
Approvals for overt ads like this one, which was clearly marked with CENTCOM’s logo, are handled at the “combatant command level” according to The Post.