When we hear of the word propaganda, most people will instantly think it is misinformation created by the "bad guys", or commies, or anyone against democratic freedoms. But, even the most democratic nations uses propaganda not only to promote dissent on their enemies, but also promote dissent on their own people.
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented.[1] Propaganda can be found in news and journalism, government, advertising, entertainment, education, and activism[2] and is often associated with material which is prepared by governments as part of war efforts, political campaigns, health campaigns, revolutionaries, big businesses, ultra-religious organizations, the media, and certain individuals such as soapboxers.
In the 20th century, the English term propaganda was often associated with a manipulative approach, but historically, propaganda has been a neutral descriptive term of any material that promotes certain opinions or ideologies.[1][3] Equivalent non-English terms have also largely retained the original neutral connotation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
Here we have the definition from Wikipedia that uses keywords such as "influence" or persuade and audiance to further an agenda. Propaganda has been used throught out mankind but in the 20th century it was commonly associated with communism and facism during the World Wars and the Cold War.
Both sides wanted to spread their idealism and system to the people on the other side. Democracy and capitalism idealism was spread to countries like Russia and China, while Russia and China did the same to the United States and the UK and Europe. Spreading the ideas to the people will make them think about how the "grass is greener on the other side" and the end results usually create dissent, protesting, riots and revolution.
All of this started to change in the beginning of the 21st century.
New technology ermeges and helped people get news faster. Social media that instantly shares ideas and opinions can be read and shared again instantly. The world is becoming faster and the governments knew this could help speed the flow of data and information. Both sides of the spectrum ( US and China ) became concerned and started experimenting with filtering out the propaganda from other countries, while keeping their propaganda within their countries. This helped carry out PSYOPS, psychological operations against the general public.
Russia and Iran have their own form of cencorship and the United States have unsucessfully implemented their own since many citizens fought against it, but the US government have found to implement it in other ways hidden in legislature such as Net Neutrality.
In 2020, President Trump annouced that the Chinese was using their techology for spying and data collection in apps like TickTock and companies like Tencent have been installed on almost every device, including government workers. The idea of banning Chinese apps was downplayed by the US government and the public, mostly due to the technology of the time. Technology such as AI/bots which help influence other people against the idea through various mainstream social media.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-building-great-firewall-040802903.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9wcmVzZWFyY2guY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH7rujEi_XzDdGmEo4gEQV8jYgLxe4nSV19nkGLB_h0bcGltmx2Dc5R83HY-T5gCA4R0Eju3yRhpeEtVxHoAB46t99k8FDkyGj7lmMIg0_98YsXRkH3zL7B01WqxAs76JSYwxPXLSOi0aQt4KpJzxdhoBpi-3LB4BhI67DO14KPo
https://flashpoint.io/blog/social-media-bots-national-security/
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/social_media_bots_infographic_set_508.pdf
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/bots/what-is-a-social-media-bot/
There are many links and resources on this. I urge everyone to research this since there is hardly any common knowledge on AI/bots on social media which can easily promote propaganda, as well as change opinion against propaganda.
Since 2016, It was annouced that Mankind is entering the fourth industrial revolution. Led by the World Economic Forum.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/fourth-industrial-revolution/
https://iap.unido.org/articles/what-fourth-industrial-revolution
The improvement of using AI and communications is vital for mankind to go forward, but at the same time, the elites and governments knew the main issue with propaganda has to be addressed. The issue is that knowledge of what is real, facts, research and sources can be easily shared and this alone would help any common folk realize the lies that are being told by them. The main top reason for the existence of intelligence agencies, is to create propaganda, help spread the propaganda through partnered agencies, media or word of mouth. These agencies are part of a countries national defense structure. But in the United States, you have numerous agencies on propaganda. The Department of Defense has a special research section named DARPA that creates simulations and exercises to collect and analyize the data needed. NSA is the digital portion which can train people on the internet to spread or downplay a propaganda. The CIA usually helps pass laws on propaganda and even carries out assignments in the real world. We see this in the form of protesting which can result in riots. We usually see this in other countries for various reasons such as South America, the difference between a real protest and a goverment created protest are now easily spotted due to the amount of media coverage is on it. Many people wonder "why are the governments using propaganda on its own citizens?" or "is it illegal to use propaganda on its own citizens". The answer is no, it is very legal and many laws have passed with hidden agendas inside the bills.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6691?s=1&r=82
https://us.blastingnews.com/opinion/2017/10/propaganda-is-legal-in-the-united-states-002031211.html
But the main issue even if propaganda is legal, still presents itself that if one person out of a group of 10 knows the truth, how is propaganda going to get to that one person? Influencers as family and friends with the help of social media. That one person will be in the wrong with the majority being right no matter how wrong the narrative is, the majority rules. This helps with social media deploying bots and fake accounts which recently in 2022 and the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, showed that not only did the FBI paid Twitter to censor news outlets and journalists, but also deployed fake accounts to discredit many people who was spreading the real information. The government called this "disinformation" and the spreading of misinformation, which is just another fancy term for propaganda.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/north_america/americas-current-economy/congress-authorized-propaganda-against-americans/
Many Americans still think the government would never use propaganda on them. The same people think the government are actually the good guys that protect the country against threats including the people themselves. This is all divide and control tactics. This is all part of the global elites to easily control the 8 billion people on this planet, on each continent, in each country and state. The same government that murders thousands across the seas, the same government that spends billions on foriegn aid with no clear indication on the purpose but leaves millions poor in its own country. The same government that spends more on war than with infrastructure, education and even the entire public sector combined! You can see how media plays a major role in influencing the population easily.