The U.S. secretly created a Cuban version of Twitter in an attempt to discredit the island nation's communist government, the Associated Press reported.
The "Cuban Twitter," created from hidden shell companies and funded from banks overseas, first gathered a following by targeting thousands of Cuban youth, the AP reported.
The goal was to give Cubans the ability to organize "smart mobs," or flash mobs that would serve as a catalyst for protests against the government to "renegotiate the balance of power between state and society," according to government documents obtained by the AP.
The more than two-year operation, named "ZunZuneo," permeated Cuba's control on the Internet. The project gathered personal information about its users, who were unaware they were using an American-made platform, the AP reported.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which created ZunZuneo, went to extreme measures to hide its involvement. According to government documents, companies were set up in Spain and the Cayman islands so the money, which came from taxpayer funds, could not be traced.
"There will be absolutely no mention of the U.S. government involvement," read a 2010 memo from one of the project's creators, Mobile Accord Inc., obtained by the AP. "This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission."
The USAID has long maintained it does not carry out secret, spying operations and that whatever it does is "consistent with U.S. law," according to the AP. It is not clear if the White House was aware of the operation or where the project's approval came from.
The USAID is "proud of its work in Cuba to provide basic humanitarian assistance, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to help information flow more freely to the Cuban people," who "have lived under an authoritarian regime" for half a century, the agency said in a statement obtained by the AP.
ZunZuneo had some 40,000 subscribers during its run, which began in 2009, the AP reported. ZunZuneo abruptly ended in 2012 after its developers found out Cuban officials attempted to hack into the project.
