<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>Threeve303</author><text>Imagine you have a tech industry that merged with madison avenue along with psychological methods learned from Guantanamo and CIA Black Sites, and you wanted to build a societal manipulation machine, otherwise known as propaganda. Makes me wonder if there is any relation between the changes mentioned here and some of what the social media infrastructure has been used to do.</text><parent_chain><item><author>34679</author><text>&amp;gt;The film also notes that the United States has laws against propagandizing the U.S. public, which might make such a disclosure a confession of a crime. I would add that since 1976, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has required that “Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.”&lt;p&gt;That changed in 2013:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The U.S. government&amp;#x27;s mammoth broadcasting arm has begun the &amp;quot;unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption,&amp;quot; John Hudson of Foreign Policy reported on Sunday.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The content arrives with the enactment of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R- Texas) and Rep. Adam Smith (D- Wash.), which was inserted into the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The reform effectively nullifies the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which was amended in 1985 specifically to prohibit U.S. organizations from using information &amp;quot;to influence public opinion in the United States.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The new law enables U.S. government programming such as Voice of America (VoA) — an outlet created in 1942 to promote a positive understanding of the U.S. abroad — t0 broadcast directly to domestic audiences for the first time.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&amp;#x2F;us-domestic-propaganda-officially-aired-2013-7?op=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&amp;#x2F;us-domestic-propaganda-offic...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda</title><url>https://worldbeyondwar.org/the-pentagon-and-cia-have-shaped-thousands-of-hollywood-movies-into-super-effective-propaganda/</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>mulmen</author><text>Ok so war propaganda is illegal but what changed in 2013?  Did the laws change or did we just stop caring to enforce them?</text><parent_chain><item><author>34679</author><text>&amp;gt;The film also notes that the United States has laws against propagandizing the U.S. public, which might make such a disclosure a confession of a crime. I would add that since 1976, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has required that “Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.”&lt;p&gt;That changed in 2013:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The U.S. government&amp;#x27;s mammoth broadcasting arm has begun the &amp;quot;unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption,&amp;quot; John Hudson of Foreign Policy reported on Sunday.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The content arrives with the enactment of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R- Texas) and Rep. Adam Smith (D- Wash.), which was inserted into the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The reform effectively nullifies the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which was amended in 1985 specifically to prohibit U.S. organizations from using information &amp;quot;to influence public opinion in the United States.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;The new law enables U.S. government programming such as Voice of America (VoA) — an outlet created in 1942 to promote a positive understanding of the U.S. abroad — t0 broadcast directly to domestic audiences for the first time.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&amp;#x2F;us-domestic-propaganda-officially-aired-2013-7?op=1&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&amp;#x2F;us-domestic-propaganda-offic...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda</title><url>https://worldbeyondwar.org/the-pentagon-and-cia-have-shaped-thousands-of-hollywood-movies-into-super-effective-propaganda/</url></story>