Foreign Interference Including Disinformation

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that unexpected and unpredictable situations can hinder the conduct of general elections around the world. The book is a comprehensive analysis of the organization of elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the theoretical perspective, it familiarizes the public with specific electoral solutions adopted during the pandemic in selected European countries (Italy, Germany, Lithuania, Serbia, Russia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Poland). The editors believe that this book will bring closer the specific solutions adopted in the considered countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide readers with a multi-faceted understanding of elections in emergency situations. Contributors are: Roman Bäcker, Ryszard Balicki, Piotr Chrobak, Rafal Dudala, Kamil Glinka, Maciej Górny, Maciej Hartliński, Marcin Jastrzębski, Izabela Kapsa, Agnieszka Kasińska-Metryka, Joanna Kielin-Maziarz, Jakub Klepański, Oliwia Kowalik, Krzysztof Koźbial, Aleksandra Kuczyńska-Zonik, Natalia Kusa, Elżbieta Lesiewicz, Natasza Lubik-Reczek, Agnieszka Lukasik-Turecka, Pawel Malendowicz, Martinas Maluzinas, Radoslaw Marzęcki, Magdalena Musial-Karg, Adam Pluszczyk, Agata Pyrzyńska, Marcin Rachwal, Joanna Rak, Kamila Sierzputowska, Krzysztof Skotnicki, Piotr Walewicz, Jacek Wojnicki, and Waldemar Wojtasik.

This book explores the pervasive and globalised trajectory of domestic disinformation. It describes specific operations and general apparatuses of disinformation that are sponsored by the State institutions in several countries around the world, such as governments, political parties, and politicians. With an international team of expert authors, this volume meticulously scrutinises instances of State-sponsored disinformation across a diverse spectrum of 14 countries encompassing Western and Eastern Europe, North and Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It examines how political landscapes amplify or constrain disinformation, advancing a comprehensive understanding of its dynamics in the contemporary global milieu. The book is organised in three sections that gather case studies from democratic, non-democratic, and transitional regimes. Advancing the field of misinformation and disinformation studies by specialising in State-sponsored operations and their consequences, this book will be an essential volume for scholars and upper-level students of media and communication studies, journalism, political communication, disinformation and misinformation, social media, sociology, and international politics. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license

In an era when hashtag campaigns like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter capture global attention for victims of injustice, politicians and corporations are now spending billions employing Cambridge Analytica-type consultancies to manufacture disinformation - employing trolls, cyborgs and bots to disrupt dialogue and drown-out dissent. In the first study of its kind, this open-access book presents a range of case studies of these emerging dynamics across Africa, mapping and analyzing disinformation operations in ten different countries, and using innovative techniques to determine who is producing and coordinating these increasingly sophisticated disinformation machines. Drawing on scholars from across the continent, case studies document the actors and mechanisms used to profile citizens, manipulate beliefs and behaviour, and close the political space for democratic dialogue and policy debate. (...)

It is a well-known fact both among scholars of propaganda and disinformation, and among political leaders that Sputnik and RT are using their news coverage for disinformation purposes to harm Western and European societies. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which enhanced the security threat by disinformation, the EU decided to ban these two media. Against this backdrop, the study asks what the disinformation about Sweden in Sputnik and RT looked like prior to the ban (It should be noted that both channels still publish news for a European audience by way of VPN and other pathways.) It is done by way of a narrative approach, which means that the analyses seek to trace what stories that were told and how. The study thus analyzes the narrative logic of propaganda and disinformation narratives promulgated by Russian state-sponsored media platforms Sputnik and RT, and aim to show how these media have sought to denigrate Sweden. This is an open access book.

The U.S. media has been tainted with Russian disinformation, but the more significant threat is how the Right has embraced the Russian model of the news media as a vehicle for propaganda. This could not have happened without Donald Trump, who has been aided and abetted by politicians and news outlets that favor persuasion over information. From his inauguration onwards, Trump has shown allegiance to the Kremlin propaganda playbook--he consistently denies reality, amplifies lies, vilifies the free media, and broadcasts disinformation. Seeing Red breaks new ground in investigating the scope of Russian disinformation, arguing that key politicians and media outlets in the United States have facilitated the dissemination of Russian propaganda. From the 2020 elections to the Capitol Insurrection to the war in Ukraine, Sarah Oates and Gordon Neil Ramsay examine the penetration of key Kremlin strategic narratives that attempt to project Russian power, blame NATO for Russian aggression, and attack democracy via the U.S. news. Despite knowledge of the risk and resourceful work on tracking down Russian propaganda in the United States, the problem of foreign disinformation continues to this day. As Oates and Ramsay argue, this is in part due to exploitation of the American tradition of free speech and the open nature of the U.S. media system. Yet, the much more dangerous menace lies not in how foreign governments attempt to manipulate the media, but in how our media system has been compromised by domestic actors who follow an authoritarian playbook and promote anti-democratic narratives. When it is hard to tell the difference between what the Russians are saying about the Democrats and how Fox News is covering Joe Biden, it is time to realize that some American outlets have crossed the line from news to propaganda.

Disinformation is one of the most significant problems of modern societies. Its mechanisms and effects, as well as possible ways to counteract it, are of interest to various institutions.

This book examines fake news in the digital information age, as well as its impact on society, especially in education, politics, and public policy.

This volume looks at the forms and functions of counterspeech as well as what determines its effectiveness and success from multidisciplinary perspectives. Counterspeech is in line with international human rights and freedom of speech, and it can be a much more powerful tool against dangerous and toxic speech than blocking and censorship. In the face of online hate speech and disinformation, counterspeech is a tremendously important and timely topic. The book uniquely brings together expertise from a variety of disciplines. It explores linguistic, ethical and legal aspects of counterspeech, looks at the functions and effectiveness of counterspeech from anthropological, practical and sociological perspectives and addresses the question of how we can use modern technological advances to make counterspeech a more instantaneous and efficient option to respond to harmful language online. The greatest benefit of counterspeech lies in the ability to reach bystanders and prevent them from becoming perpetrators themselves. This volume is an excellent opportunity to spread the word about counterspeech, its potential, importance, and future endeavors. This anthology is a great resource for scholars and students of linguistics, philosophy of language, media and communication studies, digital humanities, natural language processing, international human rights law, anthropology and sociology, and interdisciplinary research methods. It is also a valuable source of information for practitioners and anyone who wants to speak up against harmful speech. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The information age has opened a new front of adversarial statecraft. The past decades have seen the rise and refinement of conflict enacted in the world of information, with tactics including seeding disinformation, the theft of sensitive data, confusing or obscuring public opinion to forward specific goals, and beyond. Deterrence in the 21st Century asks how, and if it is indeed possible, to deter an enemy in the realm of information warfare. Setting the stage with an overview of key concepts of deterrence in the information age, the book presents new conceptual approaches and their possible applications. Bringing together some of the most respected analysts working today, Deterrence in the 21st Century looks beyond the technical aspects of the use of information and disinformation as adversarial statecraft to seek new avenues to deter the undermining of institutions and societies. Treating deterrence as a concept, a policy, a social challenge, and a series of practical solutions, Deterrence in the 21st Century presents theoretical approaches, conceptual analysis, empirical research, and content analysis. This is a thorough, thoughtful, and expert analysis of one of the most difficult and essential security challenges of our time. With contributions by: Christopher Ankersen, Yair Ansbacher, Oshri Bar-Gill, Stephen J. Cimbala, Maddie D'Agata, Molly Ellenberg, Leandre R. Fabrigar, Rachel Lea Heide, Nicole J. Jackson, Pierre Jolicoeur, Christian Leuprecht, Adam Lowther, Sarah Jane Meharg, Eric Ouellet, Ronald D. Porter, Anthony Seaboyer, Ron Schleifer, Miniqian Shen, Anne Speckhard, Keith Stewart, Joseph Szeman, and Alex Wilner

Foreign interference in elections may have attracted increased public attention since 2016, but it is a practice virtually as old as modern electoral democracy itself. This book offers the most comprehensive account of its normative implications yet. It discusses relevant standards of international law, human rights, and democratic theory, thereby casting a net wide enough to address the fundamental value of human dignity as well as the conditions of real political autonomy. Ultimately, the book identifies potential deficits of legality, accountability, and legitimacy ensuing from certain types of foreign electoral interference, and it provides ideas on what can and should be done in response.

This interdisciplinary Handbook provides an in-depth analysis of the complex security phenomenon of disinformation and offers a toolkit to counter such tactics.

Disinformation used to propagate false, inexact or out of context information is today a frequently used tool of political manipulation and information warfare, both online and offline. This Handbook evidences a historical thread of continuing practices and modus operandi in overt state propaganda and covert information operations. Further, it attempts to unveil current methods used by propaganda actors, the inherent vulnerabilities they exploit in the fabric of democratic societies and, last but not least, to highlight current practices in countering disinformation and building resilient audiences. (...)

This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of research into discourses of disinformation, misinformation, post-truth, alternative facts, hate speech, conspiracy theories, and "fake news". Divided into two sections, it provides a detailed look at the methodological challenges and approaches for studying disinformation, along with a wide range of case studies covering everything from climate change denial to COVID-19 conspiracies. The studies address how discourses of disinformation are constructed and developed, what rhetorical and persuasive strategies they employ, how disinformation can be discerned from real news, and what steps we might take in order to create a more trustworthy news environment. Authored by leading experts from around the world, and showcasing the most up-to-date methodological approaches to the topic, the volume makes a significant contribution to current linguistic research on politics, and is an essential guide to the discourses of disinformation for advanced students and researchers of English language studies, linguistics, and media and communication studies.

From fringe conspiracy theories to 'alternative facts', a timely look at how we arrived in the 'fake news' era.

The book is a collection of studies on the war in Ukraine. The considerations focus on different contexts of the first phase of the armed conflict. The authors try to answer questions about the motives and results of Russian disinformation and blaming Ukraine, the US and NATO for the invasion, as well as of the position of third countries towards the Russian aggression. One of the issues addressed is sexual violence in wartime and the image of women in armed conflict. The authors also analyze the aid provided by certain nations and Ukrainian national minorities in selected countries. Some chapters also examined public opinions on various war-related issues. Such a broad approach provides multidimensional view of the war while complementing earlier images of the conflict in Ukraine.

What caused the Covid-19 pandemic, a natural spillover event or an accident in a Wuhan laboratory? Were the mitigation measures imposed by many governments - such as lockdowns and mask-wearing mandates - based on scientific evidence, or rather aimed at curtailing civil liberties and disrupting economic activities, under the secret maneuvering of a global cabal of politicians and financiers? And were Covid-19 vaccines effective in curbing the spread of the disease, or were they just a profitable scheme by big pharmaceutical companies? These questions and speculations, some legitimate, some dubious, have been swirling around the globe through social media, alternative information outlets, instant messaging apps, and mainstream media since the beginning of the pandemic, feeding the 'infodemic' - an overwhelming surge of information, misinformation, rumours and conspiracy theories which continue to linger in public and private discourse. With an original take on concepts and theories drawn from post-truth and disinformation studies, the book analyses the 'infodemic' through a series of global case studies. Framing the infodemic as a complex, multi-layered phenomenon with vast geopolitical implications, Gabriele Cosentino reveals the global competition for control in twenty-first century geopolitics between Western liberal democracies and non-Western autocracies, and above all between the United States and China.

A look inside the weaponization of social media, and an innovative proposal for protecting Western democracies from information warfare. When Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram were first introduced to the public, their mission was simple: they were designed to help people become more connected to each other. Social media became a thriving digital space by giving its users the freedom to share whatever they wanted with their friends and followers. Unfortunately, these same digital tools are also easy to manipulate. As exemplified by Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, authoritarian states can exploit social media to interfere with democratic governance in open societies. Tyrants on Twitter is the first detailed analysis of how Chinese and Russian agents weaponize Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to subvert the liberal international order. In addition to examining the 2016 U.S. election, David L. Sloss explores Russia's use of foreign influence operations to threaten democracies in Europe, as well as China's use of social media and other digital tools to meddle in Western democracies and buttress autocratic rulers around the world. Sloss calls for cooperation among democratic governments to create a new transnational system for regulating social media to protect Western democracies from information warfare. Drawing on his professional experience as an arms control negotiator, he outlines a novel system of transnational governance that Western democracies can enforce by harmonizing their domestic regulations. And drawing on his academic expertise in constitutional law, he explains why that system--if implemented by legislation in the United States--would be constitutionally defensible, despite likely First Amendment objections. With its critical examination of information warfare and its proposal for practical legislative solutions to fight back, this book is essential reading in a time when disinformation campaigns threaten to undermine democracy.

This open access book is the product of three years of academic research that has been carried out in the EU-funded Jean Monnet Network on "Post-Truth Politics, Nationalism and the Delegitimation of European Integration" since 2019. Drawing on the multidisciplinary expertise of the network's members, the book explores the impact of the phenomenon of post-truth politics on European integration and the European Union. It places particular emphasis on how post-truth politics has played out in the public sphere and asks what impact the phenomenon has had on public deliberation, but reflects also on its implications for democracy in a wider sense. This book is primarily written for audiences with an interest in politics and policy making, including academics, policy makers and civil-society actors. Thanks to its accessible style, the book should however also be an asset to wider audiences.

This book focuses on the recent rise of "infodemics" as forms of disinformation, misinformation and mal-information saturate contemporary media platforms, shaping public opinion to advance agendas. The internet in general and social media in particular have relativized, through their global, complex and instantaneous information flows, assumptions about truth and authority in fact-based content. This has created new opportunities for state actors to use information beyond traditional conceptions of propaganda to directly assault a public's conception of reality. Additionally, almost anyone has the capability to challenge evidential claims through narratives and imagery alone as there is a wide appetite online for alternative realities. This requires new approaches to media literacy in education, the creative arts and our acts of media consumption and dissemination. The volume covers the ways that social media platforms amplify and catalyze the messages of politicians and influencers, the ambivalence of algorithms that can both generate and detect problematic information, how fake news imitates the style of memes to gain widespread social traction and virality, and how artists have intentionally created "sicko AIs" in new media performances to highlight the ethical risks of increasingly "intelligent" technologies. Scholars and students from many backgrounds, as well as policy makers, journalists and the general reading public, will find a multidisciplinary approach to questions posed by information disorder research from the fields of communication, social psychology, human-computer interaction, journalism, media, semiotics and new media art.

Criminal Fraud and Election Disinformation is about the state's approach to fraud and distortion of the truth in politics, especially during election campaigns. Deliberate mischaracterisation of political opponents and their policies has always been a part of politics; however, lying,dishonesty, and distortion of the facts remain morally wrong and have the potential to obstruct important political interests. For example, a false or misleading claim publicised about an election candidate may lead someone to lose an election that they might otherwise have won. So, does - andshould - the law seek to provide protection from the risk of this happening, by directly prohibiting the making of false or misleading political claims, or by obliging internet platforms to censor such content?In attempting to answer this question, Jeremy Horder draws a key distinction between what is called 'political viewpoint' fraud and 'electoral participation' fraud. In the interests of protecting freedom of speech, false or misleading claims (disinformation) involving political viewpoint contentshould be tolerated, not only by the criminal law but also by the internet platforms which host political content. By contrast, in the interests of preserving the integrity of democratic electoral processes, disinformation involving electoral participation information should be prohibited by thecriminal law and censored by internet platforms. This book explains how the criminal law in various jurisdictions frequently prohibits false or misleading political claims falling into both categories of disinformation, instead of concentrating on electoral participation fraud. By contract, theright response to political viewpoint disinformation is the provision of more information that challenges people to question their beliefs and prejudices.

This book investigates complex regressive dynamics in contemporary Western democracies. They include not only severe polarization in domestic politics, but also efforts by external autocratic powers to co-opt the increasingly digitalized political processes in the West. The discussion on democratic vulnerability and regression has rarely been historically and theoretically reflective. The aim is to fill this relative void by drawing on classical sources to inform about the political anxieties and agitations of our present time as the Western world moves towards new critical elections. The key concept of the analysis, a Thucydidean brink, refers to a critical point where the attraction felt towards an outside geopolitical competitor becomes stronger than the political affinity felt towards one's domestic political opponent. As political polarization, societal decomposition and the collusive tendencies grow in strength, political factions and political candidates in western societies can be(come) drawn to autocratic actors. Perhaps most alarmingly, the resulting nexus between democracies and autocracies can further intensify mutual regression and form downwards-sloping spirals that are not ultimately under any strategic control. This book draws from the experiences of recent elections in major Western democracies to illustrate the widening and deepening underlying regressive tendency.

This book explores the challenges that disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics pose to democracy from a multidisciplinary perspective. The authors analyse and interpret how the use of technology and social media as well as the emergence of new political narratives has been progressively changing the information landscape, undermining some of the pillars of democracy. The volume sheds light on some topical questions connected to fake news, thereby contributing to a fuller understanding of its impact on democracy. In the Introduction, the editors offer some orientating definitions of post-truth politics, building a theoretical framework where various different aspects of fake news can be understood. The book is then divided into three parts: Part I helps to contextualise the phenomena investigated, offering definitions and discussing key concepts as well as aspects linked to the manipulation of information systems, especially considering its reverberation on democracy. Part II considers the phenomena of disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics in the context of Russia, which emerges as a laboratory where the phases of creation and diffusion of fake news can be broken down and analysed; consequently, Part II also reflects on the ways to counteract disinformation and fake news. Part III moves from case studies in Western and Central Europe to reflect on the methodological difficulty of investigating disinformation, as well as tackling the very delicate question of detection, combat, and prevention of fake news. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, law, political philosophy, journalism, media studies, and computer science, since it provides a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of post-truth politics.

Since the start of the Trump era, the United States and the Western world has finally begun to wake up to the threat of online warfare and the attacks from Russia. The question no one seems to be able to answer is- what can the West do about it? Central and Eastern European states, however, have been aware of the threat for years. Nina Jankowicz has advised these governments on the front lines of the information war. The lessons she learnt from that fight, and from her attempts to get US congress to act, make for essential reading. How to Lose the Information War takes the reader on a journey through five Western governments' responses to Russian information warfare tactics - all of which have failed. She journeys into the campaigns the Russian operatives run, and shows how we can better understand the motivations behind these attacks and how to beat them. Above all, this book shows what is at stake- the future of civil discourse and democracy, and the value of truth itself.

In the current day and age, objective facts have less influence on opinions and decisions than personal emotions and beliefs. Many individuals rely on their social networks to gather information thanks to social media's ability to share information rapidly and over a much greater geographic range. However, this creates an overall false balance as people tend to seek out information that is compatible with their existing views and values. They deliberately seek out "facts" and data that specifically support their conclusions and classify any information that contradicts their beliefs as "false news." Navigating Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Misinformation in a Post-Truth World is a collection of innovative research on human and automated methods to deter the spread of misinformation online, such as legal or policy changes, information literacy workshops, and algorithms that can detect fake news dissemination patterns in social media. While highlighting topics including source credibility, share culture, and media literacy, this book is ideally designed for social media managers, technology and software developers, IT specialists, educators, columnists, writers, editors, journalists, broadcasters, newscasters, researchers, policymakers, and students.