Trolling the News in an Attention Economy

The strategy by which established, politically motivated groups (such as corporations, interest groups, political campaigns, etc.) impersonate grassroots activist movements for political gain. Online or digital astroturfing is the specific use of the internet—and particularly social media platforms—to create the illusion of organic, widespread support for a specific cause or candidate.

When imposters mimic the patterns of behavior of a social group (usually a group that has to fight for representation). Imposters pretend to be part of the group in order to insert divisive rhetoric and disinformation into popular online conversation or within the information networks used by these groups. Distinct from astroturfing, which tries to falsify grassroots support for an issue, butterfly attacks are designed to infiltrate existing communities, media campaigns, or hashtags to disrupt a social group's operations and discredit the group by sowing divisive, inflammatory, or confusing information. These mimicry campaigns exploit social wedges and prejudice, and encourage targeted harassment.

Altered media that has been changed through conventional and affordable technology. Social media examples of cheap fake techniques include photoshopping (including face swapping), lookalikes, as well as speeding and slowing video. A cheap fake is easier to produce than a deep fake, which requires advanced technology and machine learning. Unlike deep fakes, cheap fakes are common. In August 2020, a video of Nancy Pelosi was slowed down to make it appear like she was intoxicated. A video with the same claim went viral in May 2019. The 2019 post originated on TikTok and was posted to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Facebook did not remove the post, but the other three platforms did.

The use of scientific jargon and community norms to cloak or hide a political, ideological, or financial agenda within the appearance of legitimate scientific research. This may include the use of technical language, difficult-to-understand graphs and charts, or seemingly scientific data presented as empirical evidence to lend credibility to the claims being made. Cloaked science may be seeded onto public preprint servers, in data repositories, journals, or publications with lax review standards, through press releases, or by baiting journalists who may not be able to scrutinize the claims thoroughly. Note that cloaked science as a tactic is the deliberate use of information masquerading as science and should not be confused with “junk science,” which is a term that has been used to discredit scientific findings, claims, and data as fraudulent or misleading in a similar way that “fake news” can be used to dismiss critical news coverage.

The use of "deep" or machine learning to hybridize or generate human bodies and faces.

Information that is deliberately false or misleading, often spread for political gain or profit, or to discredit a target individual, group, movement, or political party.

A tactic whereby a campaign operator explicitly or implicitly directs participants to rapidly and widely disseminate campaign materials, which may include propaganda and misinformation as well as activist messaging or verified information via their personal social media accounts.

A false online identity typically created by a person or group in order to promote a specific narrative or opinion, sow division, or circumvent a previous account ban.

When loosely organized online groups come together for specific objectives or campaigns, such as spamming a comment section, engaging in harassment, or obfuscating a hashtag.

Individuals who engage in inflammatory, divisive, or distracting behavior in an online community with the goal of provoking readers or viewers into an emotional, often negative, response (e.g., anger, outrage, offense).

Engaging in inflammatory, divisive, or distracting behavior in an online community with the goal of provoking readers or viewers into an emotional, often negative, response (e.g., anger, outrage, offense).

The intentional registration of a domain name that incorporates typographical variants of the target domain name in order to deceive visitors. This may involve misspelling a domain or using a different top-level domain. Typosquatting is a form of cybersquatting, or an attempt to mislead users by fraudulently posing under someone else's brand or copyright.

Media manipulation campaign operators use uncorroborated anonymous sources as a tactic to support their campaign’s goals or methods. By keeping the identity of the alleged source of information anonymous, the operator restricts the ability for others to critically evaluate and confirm the claim. Most professional news media organizations usually disclose named sources and apply strict guidelines when and if they attribute news and information to anonymous sources. The Associated Press, for example, restricts the use of anonymous sources to when they are vital to a story and the story could not be reported without that source. Campaign operators exploit this practice by using uncorroborated sources to cover a lack of evidence supporting their campaign, to push a narrative, and/or to make it seem as if they have special access to secret or guarded information.