SSD offers a gingerbread for attention to national security – to win a woolen scarf

The rules say “like and share” – you can’t

“Like”, “follow”, “share” and, if you are lucky, you will be able to wrap yourself in a scarf – such a simple recipe for winning was suggested by the SSD. “Since it is freezing outside as needed, we want to give you a warm scarf with wool,” the record opens on Thursday. department account on Facebook.

To win, just like to like and share a post about the contest and like and follow the VSD account. The winner of the competition is promised to be selected at random and announced on January 22nd. A photo of a brown scarf with tassels is attached next to it.

Applicants to the scarf immediately appeared – in six hours, the record of the competition was liked and shared by about 90 people. The platoon of lovers of SSD page also began to grow. In a couple of hours, they increased by half a hundred.

Photo from Facebook / Department of Homeland Security expands fan base on Facebook

However, there were also those who questioned whether such a competition could be organized at all. “LIKE & SHARE contests violate Facebook rules,” commented one commenter.

This social network rules, inter aliathat pages (such as companies or organizations, blogs), groups, event pages can be used to organize various promotions. But there are additional conditions for this.

“When organizing lotteries, personal accounts (the rules say ‘time zones’ – ed. Post) or friendships cannot be used (for example,’ you need to share in your account to participate ‘,’ share in a friend’s account to have more participants’ or ‘check your friends if you want to participate (not allowed), – the rules say.

Similar contests on this social network are organized not only by various companies (this is a favorite way for small businesses to promote themselves and attract customers), but also by pages of questionable credibility. 15min recently wrote that in one such page, in exactly the same way that VSD is trying to lose a scarf, it has been repeatedly offered to win even puppies.

Trying to “tame” people

According to Eglė Samoškaitė, Head of the Strategic Communication Division of the SSD, intelligence institutions in many democratic Western countries are looking for closer communication and cooperation with the public: “It depends on whether citizens will be inclined to trust, report perceived threats to national security, seek help if they encounter foreign attempts to recruit or blackmail.

Photo by Josvydas Elinskas / 15min / Eglė Samoškaitė

For example, two Lithuanian citizens accused of espionage were recently reported and their cases brought to court. During the pre-trial investigation, one of the accused admitted that following the instructions of a foreign intelligence officer, after a while, he began to realize that they might be illegal, but for fear of blackmail, he did not dare to apply to Lithuanian law enforcement. “

The department seeks to inform Lithuanian citizens more about its activities, to encourage cooperation, not to be afraid to turn in trouble. “In this way, it is possible to avoid negative consequences for both the person and the state of Lithuania. The general goal is to make Lithuanian citizens as widely informed as possible about potential threats, so that they do not become easy targets, and to report possible illegal activities to the SSD or other law enforcement authorities. ” 15min said E.Samoškaitė.

According to her, the creation of a Facebook account is expected to encourage visitors to this social network to be interested in national security news. If people keep in mind that when they see a threat to national security or face illegal activities from other countries in our country, they can turn to the SSD, they are more likely to do so and will not be left alone with the problem.

Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min photo / SSD press conference

“A wide variety of communication channels can be chosen to inform the population, and a Facebook page can become one of such channels after successfully bringing together a community of interested people,” the interlocutor said. – Still, we don’t want to load our followers with the knowledge of threats alone, and the cold has just moved to Lithuania, so this time we decided to give a warm and beautiful scarf. Unfortunately, the scarf is only one, so the winner must be chosen through a competition. “

Asked whether the SSD would be more solid in informing about its activities through activity reports or reports of increased threats at certain times, for example, during elections, military exercises near Lithuania, E. Samoškaitė reminded that a public activity report and public threat assessment are presented to the public every year. More detailed versions of these documents are available to decision-makers authorized to work with classified information.

“Decision-makers and individuals are kept informed on a regular and regular basis on all matters relevant to national security, but the information collected by intelligence services is usually not public, as this is to protect the sources of information and not to disclose the circumstances of information collection. If necessary, we are ready to provide additional information to the public to an extent that would not cause negative consequences for the efficiency of operations and the safety of sources, ”the SSD representative summed up.