In an apparent throwback to the Cold War campaigns of disruption, disinformation and espionage, the LIS government spent $ 1,6m building a social media network with the aim of undermining the communist government in Cuba, it has emerged.

Documents obtained during an investigation by the Associated Press show that the project, which lasted more than two years and drew thousands of subscribers, was built with secret shell companies and was financed through foreign banks.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was reportedly behind the project which saw the creation of a 'Cuban Twitter' dubbed "ZunZuneo" - slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet.

USAID were primarily responsible for the campaign and there was no involvement of intelligence services, but the details uncovered by the Associated Press would appear to bring into doubt USAID's longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions.

Users of "ZunZuneo" were entirely unaware of the involvement of the United States government agency and that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.

The project, which was started in 2009 and ended in 2012, has questionable legality under US law and has prompted concerns over clandestine government funded activity.