The IRA, social media and political polarization in the United States, 2012-2018
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA) launched an extended attack on the United States by using computational propaganda to misinform and polarize US voters. This report provides the first major analysis of this attack based on data provided by social media firms to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). This analysis answers several key questions about the activities of the known IRA accounts. In this analysis, we investigate how the IRA exploited the tools and platform of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to impact US users. We identify which aspects of the IRA's campaign strategy got the most traction on social media and the means of microtargeting US voters with particular messages.
- Contents
- Executive summary. -- Introduction: Rising IRA involvement in US politics. -- Data & Methodology. -- Overview of IRA activity across platforms. -- RA acticity and key political events in the US. -- The IRA's advertising campaign against US voters. -- How the IRA targeted US audiences on Twitter. -- Engaging US voters with organic posts on Facebook and Instagram. -- Conclusion: IRA activity a political polarization in the US. -- References. -- Series acknowlegements. -- Author biographies.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource (46 pages) : color illustrations, color map |
| Place | England |
| Place | [Oxford, United Kingdom] |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Copyright date | 2018 |
| Publication date | 2018; 2018 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Howard, Philip N | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Ganesh, Bharath | |
| Author | Liotsiou, Dimitra | |
| Author | Kelly, John | |
| Author | François, Camille | |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
Subjects
| Subject | Internet Research Agency, LLC |
|---|---|
| Subject | Facebook (Electronic resource) > Political aspects > United States > Evaluation |
| Subject | Twitter > Political aspects > United States > Evaluation |
| Subject | YouTube (Electronic resource) > Political aspects > United States > Evaluation |
| Subject | Information warfare > Russia (Federation) |
| Subject | Disinformation > Russia (Federation) |
| Subject | Elections > United States |
| Subject | Social media > Political aspects |
| Subject | Online social networks > Political aspects |
| Subject | Internet in political campaigns > United States |
| Subject | Communication in politics > United States |
| Subject | Instagram (Electronic resource) > Political aspects > United States > Evaluation |
| Subject | Polarization (Social sciences) |
| Genre | Bibliography |
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Philip N. Howard, Bharath Ganesh, Dimitra Liotsiou, John Kelly, Camille François. |
|---|---|
| Note | At head of title: Computational Propaganda Research Project. |
| Bibliography | Includes bibliographical references (pages 42-43). |
| Note | Description based on online resource; title from PDF cover page (Oxford, viewed December 19, 2018). |
| Location | |
| Location | electronic resource |
| Location | electronic resource |
| Location | electronic resource |
| Location | electronic resource |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-SA).
Collection
Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) Collection
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