Browsing by Subject "disinformation"
Now showing items 1-8 of 8
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(2020)Social media was initially viewed as a democratising force that allowed anyone to participate in political discourse, however in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of state-sponsored cyber troops using these technologies to spread disinformation and computational propaganda with the intent to influence the behaviour and opinions of individuals, sow chaos and confusion and undermine social cohesion. In recent years, Russia has emerged as the global leader in developing and deploying these tactics against foreign nations, conducting operations on an industrial scale through what are colloquially termed ‘troll factories,’ the most famous of which is the Internet Research Agency (IRA). This study examines images produced by Twitter accounts attributed to the IRA and the corresponding account-level metadata, in order to understand how cyber troops are using Twitter to propagate memetic content and in what ways tactics differ based upon Russian strategic culture. This study also looks at how a nation’s perceived geopolitical position can be interpreted through analysing the output of state-sponsored digital actors. Key to the success of these tactics is the dissemination of weaponised information that spreads ‘virally’ from person to person. For this reason, memetics is employed as a theoretical framework. Strategic culture is also used as an analytical tool to interpret the objectives behind Russian cyber troop activity. The research design of this study comprises three phases. First, images that occur in the dataset 5 or more times are computationally clustered, producing 1,346 clusters of visually similar images, representing 11,742 images in total. Qualitative Content Analysis is then used to create a coding framework which categorises the content of each cluster, capturing three primary dimensions: mode of delivery, type of message and country of focus. Finally, account-level metadata is analysed to determine key account characteristics, providing insight into five factors: location, account lifespan (age), language, activity and originality. Each of these factors is then cross tabulated with five regions: Russia, Post-Soviet, Europe, USA and Rest of World. The findings of this study indicate that IRA actors have pursued a multidirectional strategy based upon Russian strategic culture, in which highly political information is distributed to target audiences primarily in Russia, USA, Europe and Ukraine. The type of information spread is predominantly photographic in nature. Images of public figures and other types of political imagery frequently occur in the dataset, as do images that reinforce an insider/outsider dichotomy. Neutral images are also strategically utilised to construct Twitter accounts that appear authentic, thereby maximising the propagation rate of targeted information. When looking at references made to countries, Russia and the USA emerge as the primary centres of focus. However, when geo-visually plotted on a map, the data indicates that, as the space between these two powers, the European region is commensurate in strategic significance. Ukraine is also prioritised as a fulcrum between the Russian and Western spheres of influence, highlighting divergence in interpretations of how to define Europe and its boundaries. These findings suggest that as Russia vies for digital sociopolitical influence in the West, Europe emerges as a key strategic space between the evolving perception of ‘us’ and ‘them’.
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(2020)Social media was initially viewed as a democratising force that allowed anyone to participate in political discourse, however in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of state-sponsored cyber troops using these technologies to spread disinformation and computational propaganda with the intent to influence the behaviour and opinions of individuals, sow chaos and confusion and undermine social cohesion. In recent years, Russia has emerged as the global leader in developing and deploying these tactics against foreign nations, conducting operations on an industrial scale through what are colloquially termed ‘troll factories,’ the most famous of which is the Internet Research Agency (IRA). This study examines images produced by Twitter accounts attributed to the IRA and the corresponding account-level metadata, in order to understand how cyber troops are using Twitter to propagate memetic content and in what ways tactics differ based upon Russian strategic culture. This study also looks at how a nation’s perceived geopolitical position can be interpreted through analysing the output of state-sponsored digital actors. Key to the success of these tactics is the dissemination of weaponised information that spreads ‘virally’ from person to person. For this reason, memetics is employed as a theoretical framework. Strategic culture is also used as an analytical tool to interpret the objectives behind Russian cyber troop activity. The research design of this study comprises three phases. First, images that occur in the dataset 5 or more times are computationally clustered, producing 1,346 clusters of visually similar images, representing 11,742 images in total. Qualitative Content Analysis is then used to create a coding framework which categorises the content of each cluster, capturing three primary dimensions: mode of delivery, type of message and country of focus. Finally, account-level metadata is analysed to determine key account characteristics, providing insight into five factors: location, account lifespan (age), language, activity and originality. Each of these factors is then cross tabulated with five regions: Russia, Post-Soviet, Europe, USA and Rest of World. The findings of this study indicate that IRA actors have pursued a multidirectional strategy based upon Russian strategic culture, in which highly political information is distributed to target audiences primarily in Russia, USA, Europe and Ukraine. The type of information spread is predominantly photographic in nature. Images of public figures and other types of political imagery frequently occur in the dataset, as do images that reinforce an insider/outsider dichotomy. Neutral images are also strategically utilised to construct Twitter accounts that appear authentic, thereby maximising the propagation rate of targeted information. When looking at references made to countries, Russia and the USA emerge as the primary centres of focus. However, when geo-visually plotted on a map, the data indicates that, as the space between these two powers, the European region is commensurate in strategic significance. Ukraine is also prioritised as a fulcrum between the Russian and Western spheres of influence, highlighting divergence in interpretations of how to define Europe and its boundaries. These findings suggest that as Russia vies for digital sociopolitical influence in the West, Europe emerges as a key strategic space between the evolving perception of ‘us’ and ‘them’.
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(2021)Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, alternative online news media were predominately thought to spread false information on the coronavirus and heavily engage in conspiracy theories. The populist and far-right news outlets especially were said to strategically exploit people’s fears to further their own hate campaigns against migrants, political elites and the established media. This research aims to give a more detailed account of how five German populist far-right digital news outlets framed the ongoing crisis from January to May 2020 and managed to integrate the topic into their established narratives. For this qualitative content analysis, articles from the digital news sites of Compact, Junge Freiheit, Eigentümlich Frei, Deutsche Stimme and Zuerst were analysed regarding the topics, claims, actors and rhetoric devices that they used. The result of the study was that, rather than being swayed by strategic whims to exploit the crisis at all costs, the outlets relied on their established framing habits and were able to incorporate the crisis into all of their usual reporting. They were able to integrate the topic into overarching narratives, which not only confirmed worldviews held by their established reader base, but may also hold significant sway over new readers seeking reassurance in uncertain times. Finally, the thesis directed attention to the importance that language and presentation played in accomplishing this balancing act, establishing the need for further research on the language of the populist far right online.
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(2021)Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, alternative online news media were predominately thought to spread false information on the coronavirus and heavily engage in conspiracy theories. The populist and far-right news outlets especially were said to strategically exploit people’s fears to further their own hate campaigns against migrants, political elites and the established media. This research aims to give a more detailed account of how five German populist far-right digital news outlets framed the ongoing crisis from January to May 2020 and managed to integrate the topic into their established narratives. For this qualitative content analysis, articles from the digital news sites of Compact, Junge Freiheit, Eigentümlich Frei, Deutsche Stimme and Zuerst were analysed regarding the topics, claims, actors and rhetoric devices that they used. The result of the study was that, rather than being swayed by strategic whims to exploit the crisis at all costs, the outlets relied on their established framing habits and were able to incorporate the crisis into all of their usual reporting. They were able to integrate the topic into overarching narratives, which not only confirmed worldviews held by their established reader base, but may also hold significant sway over new readers seeking reassurance in uncertain times. Finally, the thesis directed attention to the importance that language and presentation played in accomplishing this balancing act, establishing the need for further research on the language of the populist far right online.
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(2020)RT (formerly Russia Today) is a Russian state-owned international news broadcaster. It is considered to be one of the Russian government’s key means through which mis- or disinformation can be spread. Russia has been accused of spreading disinformation and causing political polarisation through ‘troll factories’ on social media and state-owned, internationally targeted media outlets such as RT. The presumption that can be found in the existing literature on RT is that it only functions as the Kremlin’s propaganda mouthpiece. Such a stance is problematic; hence, this research instead analyses RT’s coverage of the 2019 European Parliamentary elections as an independent actor separate from the Kremlin. Due to its transnational nature, the European Parliamentary elections in May 2019 were seen as a potential target of Russian interest and hence chosen as the context of this research. Instead of seeking for signs of Russian intervention, the focus is on how RT constructs the notion of a collapsing EU establishment. The materials included in this research consist of 94 articles derived from RT’s English language website. As the research deals with text and meaning-making, discourse theory forms its theoretical framework, while the method of analysis is discourse-theoretical analysis (DTA). DTA employs the key concepts of discourse theory to guide the analysis. In this context, the main concepts are hegemony and antagonism. Hegemony refers to a discourse that holds power and is able to influence social order. A hegemony always implies an antagonism, which is the hegemony’s ultimate ‘other’ that struggles to overturn the hegemonic discourse in order to shift power relations. The analysis shows that in this context, hegemony refers to the EU establishment and ‘mainstream’ media, while antagonism refers to the right-wing anti-establishment and alternative media. The EU establishment and mainstream media are framed as hostile in the articles, as they accuse the anti-establishment having connections to Russia, and RT in particular of being the Kremlin’s messenger. The articles provide counter-evidence of the allegations, thereby discrediting the establishment and mainstream media. The electoral success of the anti-establishment parties is framed as ending the centuries-long hegemony of the EU establishment. By framing the EU establishment and mainstream media in such a manner, the anti-establishment and alternative media are mirrored in a more positive light, representing the true will of the people and acting as the bearers of ‘truth’. These can be seen as increasing the credibility of the anti-establishment and RT in the eyes of the reader.
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(2020)RT (aikaisemmin tunnettu nimellä Russia Today) on Venäjän federaation omistama kansainväliselle yleisölle suunnattu tv- ja uutiskanava. RT:tä pidetään yhtenä Venäjän keskeisimpinä valeuutisten levittäjänä. Tämä oletus on usein läsnä RT:tä koskevassa tutkimuksessa; sen oletetaan toimivan ainoastaan Kremlin propagandakoneena. Tällainen lähtökohta tutkimuksessa on ongelmallinen, joten tämä tutkimus pyrkii käsittelemään RT:tä itsenäisenä toimijana irrallaan Kremlistä vuoden 2019 Eurovaalien uutisoinnissaan. Venäjän sekaantuminen muiden maiden vaaleihin on ollut suosittu aihe etenkin vuoden 2016 Yhdysvaltojen presidentinvaalien jälkeen. Venäjän väitettiin välittäneen valeuutisia ns. trollitehtaiden avulla sosiaalisessa mediassa sekä RT:n kaltaisten valtio-omisteisten uutiskanavien kautta. Valeuutisten tarkoituksena oli vaikuttaa ihmisten vaalikäyttäytymiseen sekä aiheuttaa poliittista polarisaatiota. Vuoden 2019 Eurovaaleja pidettiin etenkin monikansallisuutensa vuoksi mahdollisena vaikutusyritysten kohteena, jonka vuoksi kyseiset vaalit valikoituivat tämän tutkimuksen kohteeksi. Sen sijaan, että tässä tutkimuksessa pyrittäisiin etsimään merkkejä Venäjältä lähtöisin olevista vaikutusyrityksistä, tutkimus keskittyy siihen, miten RT rakentaa luhistuvan EU-eliitin käsitteen. Tutkimusmateriaalit koostuvat 94 RT:n englanninkielisillä verkkosivuilla julkaistusta uutisartikkelista. Koska tutkimuksessa käsitellään merkitysten rakentamista tekstin ja kielen kautta, teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimii diskurssiteoria (discourse theory). Tutkimusmetodina toimii diskurssiteoreettinen analyysi (discourse-theoretical analysis), joka hyödyntää diskurssiteoriassa ilmeneviä konsepteja analyysissa. Tutkittaessa luhistuvan EU-eliitin käsitteen muodostumista, keskeisimmiksi konsepteiksi nousevat hegemonia ja antagonismi. Hegemonia viittaa valtaa ylläpitävään diskurssiin, jolla on mahdollista muokata sosiaalista järjestystä. Hegemoniasta syntyy aina sen ’toiseutta’ edustava antagonismi, joka pyrkii kumoamaan hegemonisen diskurssin ja siten muuttamaan valtasuhteita. Analyysi osoittaa, että RT:n uutisoinnissa Eurovaaleista hegemonialla viitataan EU-eliittiin (EU establishment), kuten Iso-Britannian konservatiiveihin tai Saksan kristillisdemokraatteihin, sekä valtavirtamediaan, kuten BBC tai The New York Times. Antagonismeiksi nousee siten oikeistopopulistiset (right-wing anti-establishment) puolueet, kuten Brexit Party tai Itävallan vapauspuolue sekä RT:n kaltainen vaihtoehtomedia. RT:n uutisointi EU-eliitistä on enimmäkseen negatiivista, kun taas oikeistopuolueita kuvataan positiivisemmassa mielessä. Valtavirtamedian väitetään olevan puolueellinen EU-eliittiä kohtaan sekä pyrkivän torjumaan oikeistopopulistien menestystä vaaleissa väittämällä, että näillä puolueilla on kytköksiä Venäjälle. RT:n mukaan nämä syytökset ovat perusteettomia sekä keino hyökätä paitsi oikeistopuolueita, myös Venäjää vastaan. Tällä vastaväitteellä pyritään heikentämään valtavirtamedian uskottavuutta. Oikeistopopulistiset puolueet olivat huomattavan menestyksellisiä Eurovaaleissa; muun muassa Iso-Britanniassa Brexit Party sai enemmän ääniä kuin hegemoniset konservatiivi- tai työväenpuolueet. Tämä nähtiin antagonististen diskurssien voittona ja vuosisatoja kestäneen EU-eliitin hegemonian kaatumisena. Tulokset osoittavat, että RT rakentaa ’toisensa’, EU-eliitin ja valtavirtamedian, liittämällä siihen konsepteja, kuten ”syyttelevä”, ”vihamielinen”, ”puolueellinen”, ”tukahduttava” ja ”Venäjän vastainen”. Oikeistopopulistiset puolueet sekä vaihtoehtomedia, etenkin RT, näyttäytyvät siten päinvastaisessa valossa. Tulokset lisäävät tietoa RT:stä juurikin osoittamalla, kuinka tämä ’toiseus’ rakentuu. Nämä voidaan nähdä keinona lisätä sekä RT:n että oikeistopopulistipuolueiden uskottavuutta lukijoiden silmissä.
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(2020)According to the EU, Russia uses disinformation campaigns to destabilize European societies and undermine democratic processes. At the same time, concerns have been raised about a shift towards a ‘post-truth’ politics, in which the importance of facts and rationality in public discussions is declining and political contests are increasingly won by appeals to emotions, rather than fact-based arguments. These developments are seen to be harmful for democracy, which depends on an informed public. In this context, the EUvsDisinfo project was set up by the European External Action Service and tasked with exposing and ‘debunking’ Russian disinformation. The research draws on the literature on theories of truth, the link between truth and democracy, and the post-truth era to critically analyze the work of EUvsDisinfo. The interest is on how the project portrays the EU through its practice of ‘debunking’ disinformation about it. Through a content analysis of the ‘disinformation cases’ published on the project’s website, this thesis examines which kinds of narratives about the EU are considered disinformation, and how they are corrected. The thesis finds that EUvsDisinfo flags many common criticisms of the EU as ‘pro-Kremlin’ disinformation. Highly contested and political issues related to matters such as EU democracy, EU integration and sovereignty of member states are presented as forming part of ‘pro-Kremlin narratives’ aiming to undermine the Union.
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(2020)According to the EU, Russia uses disinformation campaigns to destabilize European societies and undermine democratic processes. At the same time, concerns have been raised about a shift towards a ‘post-truth’ politics, in which the importance of facts and rationality in public discussions is declining and political contests are increasingly won by appeals to emotions, rather than fact-based arguments. These developments are seen to be harmful for democracy, which depends on an informed public. In this context, the EUvsDisinfo project was set up by the European External Action Service and tasked with exposing and ‘debunking’ Russian disinformation. The research draws on the literature on theories of truth, the link between truth and democracy, and the post-truth era to critically analyze the work of EUvsDisinfo. The interest is on how the project portrays the EU through its practice of ‘debunking’ disinformation about it. Through a content analysis of the ‘disinformation cases’ published on the project’s website, this thesis examines which kinds of narratives about the EU are considered disinformation, and how they are corrected. The thesis finds that EUvsDisinfo flags many common criticisms of the EU as ‘pro-Kremlin’ disinformation. Highly contested and political issues related to matters such as EU democracy, EU integration and sovereignty of member states are presented as forming part of ‘pro-Kremlin narratives’ aiming to undermine the Union.
Now showing items 1-8 of 8