The Smith-Mundt Act, originally passed in 1948, was designed to govern the dissemination of information intended for foreign audiences by the U.S. government. It prohibited the domestic distribution of materials intended for foreign audiences to prevent government propaganda from influencing U.S. citizens.
However, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, which was part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, amended the original act. This amendment allowed for the domestic dissemination of materials produced by the U.S. government for foreign audiences, effectively lifting the ban on such content being available within the United States.
While this change does not explicitly authorize the use of propaganda on U.S. citizens, it does mean that materials created for foreign audiences can now be accessed domestically. Critics argue that this could blur the lines between foreign and domestic information campaigns, potentially leading to the inadvertent or intentional influence of U.S. citizens by government-produced content.
dave /
npub1ts…khtk4
2024-08-31 16:23:37
in reply to nevent1q…6xue
Author Public Key
npub1tsgw6pncspg4d5u778hk63s3pls70evs4czfsmx0fzap9xwt203qtkhtk4Published at
2024-08-31 16:23:37Event JSON
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"content": "The Smith-Mundt Act, originally passed in 1948, was designed to govern the dissemination of information intended for foreign audiences by the U.S. government. It prohibited the domestic distribution of materials intended for foreign audiences to prevent government propaganda from influencing U.S. citizens.\n\nHowever, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, which was part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, amended the original act. This amendment allowed for the domestic dissemination of materials produced by the U.S. government for foreign audiences, effectively lifting the ban on such content being available within the United States.\n\nWhile this change does not explicitly authorize the use of propaganda on U.S. citizens, it does mean that materials created for foreign audiences can now be accessed domestically. Critics argue that this could blur the lines between foreign and domestic information campaigns, potentially leading to the inadvertent or intentional influence of U.S. citizens by government-produced content.",
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