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Category: Propaganda Methods

Media and social media’s “outrage culture”

Media and social media’s “outrage culture”

We have a media system that loves to yell and scream. It is basically its default setting. Forget deliberation and civil discourse, it goes immediately to outrage and cynical condescension, or in other cases, relentless and unprovoked shaming. And we, as the consumers and residents of this culture, have come to confuse all this noise and reaction with action. Psychologists call this the narcotizing dysfunction—when the amount of effort and energy poured into something becomes self-soothing, obliterating any notions of…

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Social media publishing propaganda for profit

Social media publishing propaganda for profit

BuzzFeed News identified more than 100 pro-Trump websites being run from a single town in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Source: How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News – BuzzFeed News As this blog has pointed out, fake news sites are prevalent across the political spectrum. They aim for the emotional response of their target audience – and generate revenue from click through advertising. The young Macedonians who run these sites say they don’t…

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Teens earn $1000s from producing fake news distributed on social media

Teens earn $1000s from producing fake news distributed on social media

A 16-year-old who runs a site called BVAnews.com told him it’s averaging 1 million page views per month. He declined to share revenue figures, but in theory that could translate to tens of thousands of U.S. dollars per year—many times more than Macedonia’s median income. The 16-year-old told Silverman he experimented with pro–Bernie Sanders news during the primary, but found pro-Trump content far more popular on the social network. Source: Facebook Is Fueling an International Boom in Pro-Trump Propaganda

Social media hoax posts more popular than those with correct information

Social media hoax posts more popular than those with correct information

Researchers examined a selection of social media posts about the Zika virus, looking at posts placed on Facebook for one week in late June. About 12 percent of the posts were classified as misleading. Most of those posts suggested that Zika virus was a way to depopulate developing nations or called the entire disease a hoax. While most of the 200 posts contained useful and credible information, the researchers found that those spreading conspiracy theories or misinformation were most popular….

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Political campaigns use fake “Astro turf” social media influencers

Political campaigns use fake “Astro turf” social media influencers

In politics, “grass roots” supporters refers to an organically developed  group that supports an initiative, a party or a politician. The idea is the group has arisen “from the people”. Counter to that, lobbying organizations create fake “grass roots” support groups, with fake names such as “Citizens for Jobs”. These fake organizations are known as “astro turf” – literally fake grass roots support organizations funded and managed by lobbying groups working to present the false impression that this is a…

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Social media, confirmation bias and its use in marketing

Social media, confirmation bias and its use in marketing

This post first appeared on my technology blog in early 2014, prior to creating the Occupy Propaganda web site devoted to analysis of social media propaganda. Confirmation bias occurs when we tend to give weight to information that supports our beliefs and to ignore or discard information that opposes our beliefs. Several studies find social media reinforces confirmation bias. All the studies I found address this in the context of politics and liberal or conservative bias.  However, the issue is much more…

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How White Supremacists incited panic and fear using social media propaganda at the University of Missouri

How White Supremacists incited panic and fear using social media propaganda at the University of Missouri

This post documents – in detail – how white supremacists used social media to create genuine fear and hysteria at the University of Missouri in late 2015. Summary White supremacists, KKK and/or neo Nazi’s used social media propaganda to incite fear and panic by falsely asserting that the KKK was on the University of Missouri campus and acting violently (Assertion, Lie). This propaganda created fear among the students, who then passed along frightening hoax statements and photos as facts, creating more…

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Did attack dogs bite a little girl in the face at pipeline protest in North Dakota?

Did attack dogs bite a little girl in the face at pipeline protest in North Dakota?

TL;DR Summary Graphic photo of a little girl with bite wounds to her face was presented online as proof that attack dogs were unleashed on Native American and other protesters at an oil pipeline construction site in North Dakota. This photo was then passed on social media, including online comments at “news” sites, as proof of the vicious attacks by dogs. The photo, however, first appeared in a June 26, 2012 NY Daily News report about a dog attack that…

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Research finds that social media rots teen brains

Research finds that social media rots teen brains

Analyzing the test results showed that students who frequently used social networking sites like Facebook or apps like Snapchat ended up wasting their brain cells, scoring on average 20 points lower in math, reading and science compared to those who didn’t partake in the online “social scene.” Source: Research Suggests Gamers Get Better Grades, While Social Sites Rot Your Brain Hmmmmm …. If you, say, wanted to control a population, you would use social media propaganda … with the added…

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The 1956 Republican Platform

The 1956 Republican Platform

A left wing poster claims that the 1956 Republican Party platform supported everything Democrats support today. Except that the claims range from false to the items in the platform referred to something completely different than claimed by the poster.