Introduction

In an “Information Age” we have a surfeit of information, not a lack thereof. As such, we use computers to seek out information and also, increasingly, to sort it and evaluate it for us. Because of the sheer amount of information choices available to us (and the inherent complexity involved in making sense of it all), “information evaluation has increasingly become the purview of automated algorithmic systems that we as human beings tend to falsely implicitly trust to provide us with the most accurate information available” (O’Hara, 2022, p. 1).

Definitions

Digital propaganda can be defined by “attempts to manipulate public opinion using social media and emerging information communication technologies (ICTs) continue to proliferate internationally” (Woolley, 2022). A specific form of digital propaganda is “computational propaganda” – the type of digital propaganda that doesn’t simply exist in the digital sphere but which leverages “computational enhancement” or “the use of algorithms, automation, and human curation to purposefully manage and distribute misleading information over social media networks” (Wooley & Howard, 2018, p. 4). “Automation, scalability, and anonymity are hallmarks of computational propaganda” (Wooley & Howard, 2018, p. 5). Ultimately, it “demonstrates how the combination of technologies and new techniques derived from the use of these technologies can, in combination with human operators and their creativity, facilitate and significantly increase the volume and speed with which propagandistic content can be generated and disseminated among target audiences” (Wanless & Berk, 2020, p. 87).^[1]

History

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Varieties

One of the ways that digital propaganda is spread is through the use of sock puppets. Understood as fake identities that malicious individuals use to deceive other people online, sock puppets have been defined as “online identities (or personas) created to mislead others by pretending to be different from the operator of the identities, who typically wishes to remain hidden”(Desai et al., 2014, p. 4). Digital deceit is paramount here as, essentially, “a sockpuppet is a fake person employed to interact with other people, particularly in online discussions or blog comments sections” (Di Pietro, 2021, p. 10). The usage of sockpuppets is endless. Whether it’s money or popularity, sockpuppets can create these for their controllers. In 2012, the mystery writer R. J. Ellory used fake Amazon accounts to give fabulous reviews to his novel A Quiet Belief in Angels. Speaking through the mouth of a fake identity named Nicodemus Jones, Ellory described his novel as a “modern masterpiece” and “magnificent book” that “will touch your soul” (Flood, 2012).  The promotion of products also can be manipulated by sockpuppets. The big brands or organizations can be seen doing this in action, “some corporations purchase positive reviews of their products from unscrupulous marketers. In fact, one data mining expert from the University of Illinois estimates that one-third of consumer reviews on the Internet are fake” (Delwiche, 2018). Sockpuppets may be seen most in today’s day and age in social media when even countries use them for the purpose of spreading their propaganda digitally.  This is understood with the following example, “In an interview with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, a former IRA puppetmaster named Marat Burkhard detailed his experience writing pro-Russian comments on municipality websites” (Volcheck, 2015).  Sockpuppets have a wide range of abilities and can take the form of a variety of things. They are used in many different situations, large and widely important like political campaigns, or smaller in importance like the selling if local products.

Type 2

Much of the time, computational propaganda is used as a means of addressing the digital distortion of discourse, civic life, and political information. Kirsch and Chowdhury point out, however, that algorithmic Twitter accounts can act as a source of Corporate Computational Propaganda (CCP), shaping engagement and positively influencing the conversation about firms online (2023). Instead of fanboys, we see fanbots conscripted into use, creating groundswells of opinion and fashioning and fuelling one-sided narratives that obscure the source of the information while influencing (manipulating) those who receive that information.^[2]

Context & Connections

To be clear, computational propaganda is digital bullshit of the highest order. “Bullshit does not require intent or specific informational goals to exist, however, computational propagandists do employ the techniques of bullshit in order to manipulate curatorial algorithms and ‘flood the zone’ of information in order to sow confusion, create distrust and eradicate consensus. Computational propagandists benefit from all three of these forms of false information that can now permeate large networks of individuals in the social media space, instantaneously” (O’Hara, 2022, p. 3). Algorithmic filters are one obvious way that this happens:

The majority of social media algorithms have been developed for the purpose of commercial incentives, such as user engagement, user connection, and convenience over more ethical concerns such as information value based on veracity. Algorithmically curated computational networks, particularly in the form of social media platforms, have an unprecedented capacity to amplify, distort, decontextualize, and foster belief, regardless of information efficacy, through constant repetitive exposure. … [Furthermore,] the curatorial algorithms within the social media space tend to enhance the cognitive bias related to selective exposure and perpetuate the continual generation of false consensus, particularly when the algorithm begins to isolate an individual within their own specific information echo chamber. (O’Hara, 2022, pp. 3-4).

References

Kirsch, D.A., & Chowdhury, M.A. (2023). Fanbois and Fanbots: Tesla’s Entrepreneurial Narratives and Corporate Computational Propaganda on Social Media. World Electric Vehicle Journal,14(43). https:// doi.org/10.3390/wevj14020043 

O’Hara, I. (2022). Automated Epistemology: Bots, Computational Propaganda & Information Literacy Instruction. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102540

Wanless, A., & Berk, M. (2020). The Audience is the Amplifier: Participatory Propaganda. In P. Baines, N. O’Shaughnessy, & N. Snow (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Propaganda (pp. 85-104). Sage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526477170.n7

Wooley, S. C. (2022). Digital Propaganda:The Power of Influencers. Journal of Democracy, 33(3), 115-128.

Woolley, S. C., & Howard, P. N. (2018). Introduction: Computational Propaganda Worldwide. In S. C. Woolley & P. N. Howard (Eds.), Computational Propaganda: Political Parties, Politicians, and Political Manipulation on Social Media (pp. 3-18). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190931407.001.0001