Thread by @NameRedacted247

1. 🧵Meta's Misinformation & Fact Checking Policy is controlled by former career CIA & USAID operatives

I’ve previously written about former CIA officer Aaron Berman, who heads Misinformation Policy at Meta. He is joined by Mike Bradow, a former USAID official, who leads Fact-Checking Policy at Meta.

Berman & Bradow didn’t join Meta to protect free speech—they joined to control content, censor speech, and amplify U.S.-backed narratives, all with the goal of manipulating elections, both domestically and abroad, notably in Brazil.

On X, @mikebradow describes himself as a “democracy champion,” while Berman has previously bragged about championing “diversity & inclusion” while at the CIA—a classic example of intelligence officials using buzzwords to mask their true objectives.

As of today, both are still at Meta, actively running these operations. So, who really controls Meta?

The rest of this thread will expose how Berman and Bradow have used Meta to interfere in elections…

2. Of all the foreign election interference by Meta, Brazil stands out the most. While the CIA operated on the ground inside Brazil, Aaron Berman & Mike Bradow played a key role in controlling content online.

They led the operation on Facebook & WhatsApp, censoring opposing narratives and amplifying U.S.-approved messaging to manipulate the outcome of the 2022 Brazilian election.

Here is a LinkedIn post by Aaron Berman detailing what his team at Facebook did to “prepare for elections in Brazil.”

3. Both Aaron Berman & Mike Bradow oversaw Meta’s extensive efforts during the 2020 U.S. election.

In his LinkedIn post, Berman describes how Facebook placed “warnings” on over 150 million pieces of content that had been “debunked” by one of Meta’s third-party fact-checkers—the very group controlled by Bradow.

4. Aaron Berman and Mike Bradow orchestrated extensive election-related interference on Facebook during Nigeria's 2023 election.

Their initiatives included partnering with local radio stations to produce "NoFalseNewsZone" radio dramas in English and Pidgin.

They also ran advertisements on Facebook and radio in four languages: Yoruba, Pidgin, Hausa, and Igbo.

5. Another example of election meddling—this time in Kenya’s 2022 election.

Aaron Berman posted about Meta’s involvement in Kenya’s election, detailing how Mike Bradow partnered with fact-checkers AFP, Pesa Check, and Africa Check to review content in both English and Swahili.

Berman also mentioned that Meta relied on "guidance from local partners." Who might those local partners be?

6. In a LinkedIn post last year, Mike Bradow described how Meta was preparing for the June elections in Mexico

7. Bradow was involved in Facebook’s fact-checking misinfo policy during the 2021 Myanmar coup.

8. Berman describes how Meta is “combatting misinformation” for the 2022 Philippines election

9. Bradow expanded Facebook’s fact-checking program into Venezuela.

10. These are just a few examples of the election interference operations run by Aaron Berman and Mike Bradow.

Beyond elections, they played a major role in Meta’s online censorship during COVID, the Ukraine war, and even launched the Facebook Climate Science Information Center to control climate-related narratives.

Who really controls Meta?