Ministry of Fandom Directorate C

The Ministry of Fandom does have some more controversial branches that it keeps secret.

One of them is the Clandestine Operations Directorate aka "Directorate C".

This branch conducts covert operations to eliminate threats to various fandoms and keeps them strong. These operations include: Black Propaganda, Character Assassination, Accelerationism, Astroterfing, Hostile Takeovers, Disinformation Campaigns, Blackmail, Information Warfare, Political Warfare, and, although extremely rare, Regular Assassination.

This branch is so controversial that even people in the ministry itself are conflicted about it. Because of this, it is kept secret for all but a few people outside the branch itself.

Some of the notable operations that can be found in their classified archives include:

OPERATION: DAMSEL >> This was an extensive character assassination campaign to discredit a known video game critic on social media who caused negative influence among game developers. The critic was placed under extensive surveillance with all computers, mobile devices, online activities, and meetings being monitored and recorded. During this campaign, multiple unethical and even illegal activities were discovered by the directorate and published. These included various lies, crowdfunding scams, social media sock puppetry, and acts of plagiarism. This dirt was subsequently published online and to various news outlets. Social media influencers were also payed to debunk all of the videos the critic published. The critic tried various damage control and PR techniques but Directorate C countered all of them. After years of subversion, the critic was completely discredited and reputation destroyed. Propaganda was distributed to every IP owner and developer stating the individual was dangerous to their bottom line and to not heed any advice given. The critic is now known as scam artist and uninformed nincompoop.

OPERATION: DEMONETIZATION >> This was a multi pronged campaign to subvert unethical video game monetization methods that involved the fanning of online outrage, disclosure of company trade secrets to regulatory agencies, bribing key shareholders of various companies with black budget money to gain majority ownership of offending companies, and blackmailing the CEO of one stubborn company. The blackmail involved threatening to disclose acts of adultery to the CEO's wife unless a list of specific monetization tactics provided by the directorate were discontinued. The disclosure of the trade secrets resulted in various nations passing laws banning the controversial tactics.

OPERATION: GASLIGHT >> This was an operation to eliminate a problematic voice actor for a popular video game who managed to polarize an entire fanbase. This person caused a toxic divide between fans by asking the developers to punish players that refused to refer to a character in a certain way and only that way. This jeopardized the integrity of the game and the fanbase. As a result, Directorate C stepped in and leveraged the voice actor's mental illness by gaslighting until the person was committed to a mental hospital. As a result, the voice actor was fired from the company. Currently the voice actor is working for a new company and is no longer committed.

OPERATION: BRUTUS >> This was the targeted assassination of 10 trade group lobbyists the ministry deemed a threat due to their extreme protectionist views on intellectual property. The killings were done via fast acting poison which caused them to die a swift and painless death by shutting down the brain. All the deaths were deemed natural. The lobbyists were then replaced with members of the Pirate Party.

OPERATION: CRASH & BURN >> This was a sabotage operation done by Directorate C that bankrupted a company known for developing difficult to crack DRM technology. It consisted of an advanced cyber attack that securely erased all company data from their computers and a stock manipulation that crashed the company into oblivion. The sabotage was then pinned on a competing company who also went bankrupt due to the heavy fines imposed and the jailing of the entire executive team.

OPERATION: PINK SLIP >> This is an ongoing campaign to get people involved in products based on popular IPs fired for blaming fans for failures. This is done usually by character assassination, disinformation campaigns, and black propaganda. So far 134 individuals have been fired from multiple companies as a result of this operation.

These are only a few of the many covert operations conducted by Directorate C. There are many more that are not as notable.