A private intelligence agency (PIA) is a private sector (non-governmental) or quasi-non-government organization devoted to the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information, through the evaluation of public sources (OSINT or Open Source INTelligence) and cooperation with other institutions.
[7][8][9][10][11] Some private intelligence agencies use online perception management,[12] social media influencing/manipulation campaigns, strategic disinformation[13] (such as fake news production/propaganda production[14]), opposition research and political campaigns using social media and artificial intelligence such as Psy-Group, Cambridge Analytica and Black Cube.
[15][16][17][18][19] The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab described the activity of Archimedes Group as practicing "information warfare".
[20] Former anti-corruption prosecutor Aaron Sayne said private intelligence is "an industry that's largely undocumented and has very flexible ethical norms" as agencies collect and use sensitive information "for one purpose on day one and some completely contradictory purpose on day two".
[21] The private intelligence industry has boomed due to shifts in how the U.S. government is conducting espionage in the War on Terror.