The Mundane Experience of Political Culture

In light of the foreign interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, the present research asks the question of whether the digital media has become the stealth media for anonymous political campaigns. By utilizing a user-based, real-time, digital ad tracking tool, the present research reverse engineers and tracks the groups (Study 1) and the targets (Study 2) of divisive issue campaigns based on 5 million paid ads on Facebook exposed to 9,519 individuals between September 28, 2016, and November 8, 2016. The findings reveal groups that did not file reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC)—nonprofits, astroturf/movement groups, and unidentifiable “suspicious” groups, including foreign entities—ran most of the divisive issue campaigns. One out of six suspicious groups later turned out to be Russian groups. The volume of ads sponsored by non-FEC groups was 4 times larger than that of FEC groups. Divisive issue campaigns clearly targeted battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where traditional Democratic strongholds supported Donald Trump by a razor-thin margin. The present research asserts that media ecology, the technological features and capacity of digital media, as well as regulatory loopholes created by Citizens United v. FEC and the FEC’s disclaimer exemption for digital platforms contribute to the prevalence of anonymous groups’ divisive issue campaigns on digital media. The present research offers insight relevant for regulatory policy discussion and discusses the normative implications of the findings for the functioning of democracy.     

How Russia's Internet Research Agency Built its Disinformation Campaign

In this article we analyse features of the information influence operations run by the St. Petersburg based Internet Research Agency, targeted at Europe. Informed by publicly available ‘open source’ data, the analysis delineates three key tactics that underpinned their disinformation campaign: account buying; ‘follower fishing’; and narrative switching. Both individually and collectively these were designed to build the reach, impact and influence of the ideologically loaded messages that social media account operators authored and amplified. The particular value of the analysis is that whilst a lot of recent public and political attention has focussed upon Kremlin backed disinformation in respect of the 2016 United States presidential election, far less work has addressed their European activities.     

总体国家安全观视阈下的虚假信息研究

虚假信息作为信息操控的重要手段,在国际关系中存在已久。随着信息全球化的深入发展,跨境虚假信息日益泛滥。国际关系学界对于虚假信息的研究尚处于初步阶段,系统性和理论性不足,且充斥西方中心主义思维,甚至成为西方操纵的舆论武器。实际上,虚假信息作为新兴的复合型国家安全威胁,呈现出传统安全与非传统安全交织的特征,是困扰国际社会的一种新生现象。虚假信息对中国国家安全也构成严峻挑战,危害人民安全、政治安全和国家利益。新冠肺炎疫情下的“虚假信息疫情”将这一危害暴露无遗。虚假信息的泛滥有个人心理和社会需求层面的原因,也受信息技术及政治经济利益驱动的影响。当前,虚假信息政治化倾向严重,对国家安全乃至国际安全的挑战日趋复杂严峻。因此,我们必须以贯彻落实总体国家安全观为目标,强化虚假信息治理,有效防范化解虚假信息安全风险。