Propaganda Pipeline: This term refers to the method by which fringe actors (such as those on the alt-right) insert their ‘messages’ into the mainstream through a series of steps-most typically starting with online platforms such as Reddit and 4chan, through especially influential figures such as Alex Jones and the Drudge Report, to the very end, mainstream news outlets.
Case Study in “Spirit Cooking: This is, basically, a fragment of the propaganda pipeline. A marginalia account of Hillary Clinton taking part in occult rituals started on Reddit and spread with the help of some people such as Mike Cernovich or Cassandra Fairbanks, then soon after reached such mainstream connections as Sean Hannity and, for example, the Washington Times.
Role of Russian Information Operations: The existence of a pipeline notwithstanding, the text claims that powerful political narratives are spawned principally by established media and political elites rather than by fringe actors. Russian actors, however, may take advantage of not-yet-covered schisms in the media ecosystem to promote certain narratives.
Effects of Russian Interference: The text recognizes the existence of Russian activity in American politics but warns it may not be as great as it seems. The first of such cases is that the efforts of Russian disinformation aim primarily at creating disunity and undermining the credibility of institutions rather than directly affecting the outcomes of elections.
Right-Wing Media Vulnerability: According to the text, the Raptor-right media ecology that creates a partisan-based narrative and shows disdain for mainstream media is more susceptible to Russian types of propaganda owing to existing vulnerabilities.
Russian Tactics:
• Social Media Manipulation: The charges claim that the Russians exploited fake accounts (bots, sockpuppets) and procured targeted political ads with the goal of spreading divided narratives, creating protests, and doing the damnedest to undermine Hillary Clinton.
• Propaganda Pipeline: Russian agents ripped before them an already-existing fissure in the media ecosystem, particularly in the right-wing fringe, to amplify the sounds of their narratives.
• Useful Idiots: Some aspects of American media knowingly or unknowingly marketed narratives that were developed in Russia.
• RT and Sputnik: These are the state-funded Russian media that collaborated in taking a big role in disseminating propaganda toward other media outlets.
Guccifer 2.0″ Controversy:
• Allegedly, this Romanian hacker claimed DNC hack but was thought to be a whistleblower from Russia.
• A group of former intel officials (VIPS) challenged the official story, claiming the DNC hack might have been done inside.
• This hoax caught on with right-wing media but was mostly debunked later.
Impact of Russian Interference:
• The text maintains that the most apparent purpose of disinformation efforts was to divide and undermine trust in democratic institutions rather than to impact elections directly.
• It will hard to place the Russian impact on the numbers, but it can well be expected to have increased any existing divisions within American society.
Facebook’s functionality:
• One of the Facebook platform features concerns featuring remarkable applications capable of micro-targeting individuals while placing ads for votes in favor of a candidate.
• This tool was well adopted by Trump’s campaign, where they targeted messages directed to particular population segments.
• There have been concerns on the usage of such abilities by the models to manipulate and mislead voters.
Cambridge Analytica:
• Data by this analytics company was collected from millions of Facebook users for purposes of creating psychographic profiles on voters.
• They claimed to have massively affected the Trump campaign, although it has not been clear how their approaches affected those who voted.
• This company faced criticism due to the nature of using privacy violation as well as dubious means.
Effectiveness of Microtargeting:
• According to scientific evidence, the effects of microtargeting on personality types are not highly effective.
• Research has evidenced that some persons would be to be swayed with personalized ads while others may be turned off completely.
Suspicion about Data-driven Campaigns:
• Privacy issues arise with manipulation and gradations in public discourse.
• The very concept of microtargeting could result in an “echo chamber” that confines people to receiving only that information which fits with their own biases and predilections.
Some Rules Needed:
• The above text states the need for new laws to cover potential harms associated with data-driven political campaigns.
• Such measures include setting minimum standards for disclosure and requirements for transparency and prohibitions on certain types of data use.
Tag: Politics
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Luigi beanie associated with CEO murder suspect isn’t selling as much as people claim it is.
On December 10th, Twitter user @Deepsinghbadhesha shared this picture on his page, which gained widespread media attention and resulted in the image being mass-circulated online.
On Wednesday December 4th, CEO of the UnitedHealthcare health insurance company, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed by Luigi Mangione in midtown Manhattan, New York. 26-year-old Luigi has officially been taken into custody by Manhattan police. Since then, there has been a divide on social media regarding the Luigi Mangione situation, with multiple people sharing posts, thoughts, and even memes online. Many users have been calling him a “hero” and labeling this event as “the start of a revolution” in support of Luigi’s actions, while others are condemning it and calling it an unjustified murder. His supporters have even gone as far as to raise funds for his legal defense team on GiveSendGo, with funds reaching over $120k in the last week.
(CLAIM)
An example of this Luigi Mangione support trend is Twitter user @deepsinghbadhesha, an attorney and policy advocate who shared this post on Twitter with the caption “Y’all are so unserious” claiming that super Mario Bros. merch is being sold in the hundreds of thousands in solidarity and association with Luigi Mangione. This post got 260k likes on Twitter and 7 million views. It was then shared on multiple media platforms like Threads and Instagram, where users are actually believing that these hats are being sold in massive numbers to support Luigi, with some users even stating they will buy it for themselves. Others are saying how much of a “disgrace” it is that so many people are supporting a murder and saying nobody is taking the situation seriously.
Upon further investigation, the post turned out to be fake, with the original listing on Amazon being 100 hats sold in the last month, not “100,000 bought today.” It was also revealed that the hats have been sold out and taken off of amazon since December 10 because of sales from the holiday season, implying sales were never due to Luigi at all to begin with. So, the post was in fact digitally altered to include 3 extra zeros to mislead people into thinking that there are 100,000 people who are willing to buy hats to support Luigi.
Instagram postPost type: Carousel
First post: Second post:
Caption:
Mario Bros. beanie hats sold for how much?!
Rumors have spread online saying this Amazon seller has sold 100,000 Luigi beanies in a day as a form of support for Luigi Mangione. The reality is that these hats have only sold 100 units in the past month. However, the online support for Luigi is very real.
#Trustify #factcheking #freeluigi #mariobros #amazon #luigimagione #unitedhealthcare
Investigative report:
1. I screenshotted this post I saw on Instagram
2. Put the image on Google reverse image, and these were my results:
Didn’t find much, but there were lots of reposts on threads and even Reddit where people claimed that this is a symbol of hope and the start of a revolution.
3- next, I put the image on TinEye, where I got 2 results.
First, I found the original photo proving that the number of hats sold was 100 in the past month, not 100,000 in a day, which proved the picture was digitally manipulated and the extra three zeros were photoshopped. I also found the original tweet that spread this rumor.
4. After opening the original tweet, it turned out that X actually flagged the tweet for misinformation. Community notes below confirmed the actual truth of these beanie hats.
https://x.com/deepnotshallow/status/1866301190486765990?s=46
By: Jana Salem
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Did Kamala Harris Really Threaten to Shut Down X? Here’s the Truth.
In the midst, of the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, there have been circulating rumors that Vice President Kamala Harris might shut down X (previously Twitter) if elected. The widely shared accusations on social media originate from misinterpreted remarks made during an interview in 2019. Harris talked about not shutting down the platform but rather suspending Donald Trump’s account. The comment has been misrepresented, according to fact-checkers, which feed false information online.
Screen Shot of a tweet from @PoliticsViedeoChannel that
circulated X during the election.
➢ Claim: Kamla Harris would shut down “X” if she won the elections.
The post that was circulating X had pictures of both Elon Musk and Kamala Harris from different events that they attended. In other words, the pictures had no relation to what the caption was saying.
Elon musk at Paris Tech Conference in 2023.
Kamla Harris during presidential
campaign in 2024.
Further investigations were carried to find the original video of Kamla Harris claim by using fact-checking tools like Yandex, TinEye and Boolean Operators (advanced google search). The widely circulated allegations proved that they are a misrepresentation of Harris’ 2019 remarks in which she demanded that former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account be shut down for using offensive language. She never advocated for the platform to be shut down. Voters are confused because of the out-of-context statement being misrepresented and spread on social media.
Screen Shot from Reuters in October of 2019
from the democratic primary debate.
Misinformation frequently spreads more quickly than the truth in the hyperconnected world of today. Harris’ 2019 comments focused on holding people responsible for breaking platform rules rather than shutting down entire services like X. Experts stress that material should always be verified before being shared online, especially during election seasons when political narratives are easily manipulated.
Sources
• https://yandex.com/images/search?cbir_id=2239571%2FpMx
QIIUrezV4ka0oLy
ug435&cbir_page=similar&crop=0.5704%3B0.3345%3B0.984%3B0.984&lr =11484&rpt=imageview&url=https%3A%2F%2Favatars.mds.yandex.net%2F get-images-cbir%2F2239571%2FpMx-QIIUrezV4ka0oLy-ug435%2Forig
• https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/harris-did-not-say-she-wanted-shut down-x-2019-interview-2024-09-10/
• https://tineye.com/search/b318d0ce501951691af8d47d07890624c021cc91?s ort=score&order=desc&page=547
• https://youtu.be/7qZl_5xHoBw?si=eT-83Fc0iUnV8N2o
• https://www.wionews.com/world/elon-musk-claims-harris-will-shut-down x-if-she-becomes-next-president-773650
• https://thefederalist.com/2024/11/05/elon-musk-predicts-kamala-harris will-shut-down-x-if-elected
president/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHKx0ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXI_ABUUVONY Fy5zUY0_Twz5XNNLOz_LkRN7wz–
By Mariam Amr
Trustify 