Feb 13 (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters ( TRI ) said on

Thursday its business with the Department of Defense was

"inaccurately represented," in response to accusations on social

media by Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump that the

company played a role in "large scale social deception" for the

government.

The contract in question was a four-year $9 million award,

beginning in 2018 during Trump's first term and ending in 2022,

between the U.S. Department of Defense and a division of the

Toronto-based content and technology company called Thomson

Reuters Special Services (TRSS). The contract was intended to

protect the U.S. government from social engineering, which is a

form of cyber threat in which people are tricked into divulging

sensitive information.

Trump demanded Reuters repay the U.S. government in a Truth

Social post in Thursday morning: DOGE: Looks like Radical Left

Reuters was paid $9,000,000 by the Department of Defense to

study "large scale social deception." GIVE BACK THE MONEY,

NOW!"

Thomson Reuters ( TRI ) said TRSS is a separate U.S. legal entity

governed by an independent board of directors. Reuters, an

independent global news organization adheres to the Trust

Principles.

"TRSS has provided software and information services to U.S.

government agencies across successive administrations for

decades, to assist in identifying and preventing fraud,

supporting public safety, and advancing justice," Steve Rubley,

CEO of Thomson Reuters Special Services, said in a statement in

response to questions about the nature of the defense department

contract.

Musk, the White House and the Defense Department did not

reply to a request for comment.

Thomson Reuters ( TRI ) issued its statement after Tesla CEO Musk,

Trump, the Hungarian government and Russian state media accused

the company on social media of being paid by the U.S. government

to play a role in "large scale social deception."

The scrutiny of this contract, named "ACTIVE SOCIAL ENGINEERING

DEFENSE (ASED) LARGE SCALE SOCIAL DECEPTION (LSD)" comes as Musk

has spearheaded an effort to cut waste from government agencies

called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Members

of this group have scrutinized personnel and payment information

in government computer systems and helped dismantle two U.S.

agencies.

The contract was awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory

and funded by U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or

DARPA, the research and development arm of the U.S. military.

DARPA described the ASED program on its website as one that

"aims to develop the core technology to enable the capability to

automatically identify, disrupt, and investigate social

engineering attacks."

The site added that "If successful, the ASED technology will do

this by actively detecting attacks, intervening in

communications between users and potential attackers, and

coordinating investigations into the source of the attacks."

DARPA did not have a description for "Large Scale Social

Deception."

In the transaction history of the contract from USAspending.gov,

a website that tracks contracts with the U.S. government,

funding amounts were dispersed during the contract period for

activities described as "SIMULATION TESTING AND MEASUREMENT

LARGE SCALE DECEPTION".

DARPA was not immediately reachable for comment and Thomson

Reuters ( TRI ) did not provide additional details.

The DARPA site said the program is now complete.

Thomson Reuters Special Services has been awarded more than $120

million in contracts over multiple federal agencies dating back

to 2010. These agencies include the Defense Department, which

has awarded more than $60 million in contracts and the

Department of Homeland Security, which has awarded $55.85

million over time.