Internet manipulation refers to media manipulation
on the Internet.Such manipulation may be conducted
for purposes of propaganda, discreditation,
harming corporate or political competitors,
improving personal or brand reputation or
plain trolling among other things.
To accomplish these objectives, online influencers,
hired professionals and/or software − typically
Internet bots such as social bots, votebots
and clickbots − may be used.
Cognitive hacking refers to a cyberattack
that aims to change users' perceptions and
corresponding behaviors.Internet manipulation
is sometimes also used to describe selective
Internet censorship or violations of net neutrality.
== Issues ==
High-arousal emotion virality: It has been
found that content that evokes high-arousal
emotions (e.g. awe, anger or anxiety) is more
viral and that this also hold when surprisingness,
interestingness, or usefulness is taken into
consideration.
Simplicity over complexity: Providing and
perpetuating simple explanations for complex
circumstances may be used for online manipulation.
Often such are easier to believe, come in
advance of any adequate investigations and
have a higher virality than any complex, nuanced
explanations and information.
(See also: Low-information rationality)
Peer-influence: Prior collective ratings of
an web content influences ones own perception
of it.
In 2015 it was shown that the perceived beauty
of a piece of artwork in an online context
varies with external influence as confederate
ratings were manipulated by opinion and credibility
for participants of an experiment who were
asked to evaluate a piece of artwork.
Furthermore, on Reddit it has been found that
content that initially gets a few down- or
upvotes often continues going negative, or
vice versa.
This is referred to as "bandwagon/snowball
voting" by reddit users and administrators.
Filter bubbles: Echo chambers and filter bubbles
might be created by Website administrators
or moderators locking out people with altering
viewpoints or by establishing certain rules
or by the typical member viewpoints of online
sub/communities or Internet "tribes"
Confirmation bias & manipulated prevalence:
Fake news does not need to be read but has
an effect in quantity and emotional effect
by its headlines and sound bites alone.
Specific points, views, issues and people's
apparent prevalence can be amplified, stimulated
or simulated.
(See also: Mere-exposure effect)
Information timeliness and uncorrectability:
Clarifications, conspiracy busting and fake
news exposure often come late when the damage
is already done and/or do not reach the bulk
of the audience of the associated misinformation
Psychological targeting: Social media activities
and other data can be used to analyze the
personality of people and predict their behaviour
and preferences.
Dr Michal Kosinski developed such a procedure.
Such can be used for media or information
tailored to a person's psyche e.g. via Facebook.
According to reports such may have played
an integral part in Donald Trump's win.
(See also: Targeted advertising, Personalized
marketing)
=== Algorithms, echo chambers and polarization
===
The proliferation of online sources represents
a vector leading to an increase in media pluralism
but algorithms used by social networking platforms
and search engines to provide users with a
personalized experience based on their individual
preferences represent a challenge to pluralism,
restricting exposure to differing viewpoints
and news feed.
This is commonly referred to as "echo-chambers"
and "filter-bubbles".
With the help of algorithms, filter bubbles
influence users' choices and perception of
reality by giving the impression that a particular
point of view or representation is widely
shared.
Following the 2016 referendum of membership
of the European Union in the United Kingdom
and the United States presidential elections,
this gained attention as many individuals
confessed their surprise at results that seemed
very distant from their expectations.
The range of pluralism is influenced by the
personalized individualization of the services
and the way it diminishes choice.Research
on echo chambers from Flaxman, Goel, and Rao,
Pariser, and Grömping suggest that use of
social media and search engines tends to increase
ideological distance among individuals.Comparisons
between online and off-line segregation have
indicated how segregation tends to be higher
in face-to-face interactions with neighbors,
co-workers, or family members, and reviews
of existing research have indicated how available
empirical evidence does not support the most
pessimistic views about polarization.
A study conducted by researchers from Facebook
and the University of Michigan, for example,
has suggested that individuals’ own choices
drive algorithmic filtering, limiting exposure
to a range of content.
While algorithms may not be causing polarization,
they could amplify it, representing a significant
component of the new information landscape.
== Research and use by intelligence and military
agencies ==
The Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group
unit of the Government Communications Headquarters
(GCHQ), the British intelligence agency was
revealed as part of the global surveillance
disclosures in documents leaked by the former
National Security Agency contractor Edward
Snowden and its mission scope includes using
"dirty tricks" to "destroy, deny, degrade
[and] disrupt" enemies.
Core-tactics include injecting false material
onto the Internet in order to destroy the
reputation of targets and manipulating online
discourse and activism for which methods such
as posting material to the Internet and falsely
attributing it to someone else, pretending
to be a victim of the target individual whose
reputation is intended to be destroyed and
posting "negative information" on various
forums may be used.Known as "Effects" operations,
the work of JTRIG had become a "major part"
of GCHQ's operations by 2010.
The unit's online propaganda efforts (named
"Online Covert Action") utilize "mass messaging"
and the "pushing [of] stories" via the medium
of Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube.
Online "false flag" operations are also used
by JTRIG against targets.
JTRIG have also changed photographs on social
media sites, as well as emailing and texting
colleagues and neighbours with "unsavory information"
about the targeted individual.
In June 2015, NSA files published by Glenn
Greenwald revealed new details about JTRIG's
work at covertly manipulating online communities.
The disclosures also revealed the technique
of "credential harvesting", in which journalists
could be used to disseminate information and
identify non-British journalists who, once
manipulated, could give information to the
intended target of a secret campaign, perhaps
providing access during an interview.
It is unknown whether the journalists would
be aware that they were being manipulated.Furthermore,
Russia is frequently accused of financing
"trolls" to post pro-Russian opinions across
the Internet.
The Internet Research Agency has become known
for employing hundreds of Russians to post
propaganda online under fake identities in
order to create the illusion of massive support.
In 2016 Russia was accused of sophisticated
propaganda campaigns to spread fake news with
the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton
and helping Republican Donald Trump during
the 2016 presidential election as well as
undermining faith in American democracy.In
a 2017 report Facebook publicly stated that
its site has been exploited by governments
for the manipulation of public opinion in
other countries – including during the presidential
elections in the US and France.
It identified three main components involved
in an information operations campaign: targeted
data collection, content creation and false
amplification and includes stealing and exposing
information that's not public; spreading stories,
false or real, to third parties through fake
accounts; and fake accounts being coordinated
to manipulate political discussion, such as
amplifying some voices while repressing others.
== In politics ==
In 2016 Andrés Sepúlveda disclosed that
he manipulated public opinion to rig elections
in Latin America.
According to him with a budget of $600,000
he led a team of hackers that stole campaign
strategies, manipulated social media to create
false waves of enthusiasm and derision, and
installed spyware in opposition offices to
help Enrique Peña Nieto, a right-of-center
candidate, win the election.In the run up
to India's 2014 elections, both the Bharatiya
Janata party (BJP) and the Congress party
were accused of hiring "political trolls"
to talk favourably about them on blogs and
social media.The Chinese government is also
believed to run a so-called "50-cent army"
(a reference to how much they are said to
paid) and the "Internet Water Army" to reinforce
favourable opinion towards it and the Communist
Party of China (CCP) as well as to suppress
dissent.In December 2014 the Ukrainian information
ministry was launched to counter Russian propaganda
with one of its first tasks being the creation
of social media accounts (also known as the
i-Army) and amassing friends posing as residents
of eastern Ukraine.Twitter suspended a number
of bot accounts that appeared to be spreading
pro-Saudi Arabian tweets about the disappearance
of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
== In business and marketing ==
== 
Trolling and other applications ==
In April 2009, Internet trolls of 4chan voted
Christopher Poole, founder of the site, as
the world's most influential person of 2008
with 16,794,368 votes by an open Internet
poll conducted by Time magazine.
The results were questioned even before the
poll completed, as automated voting programs
and manual ballot stuffing were used to influence
the vote.
4chan's interference with the vote seemed
increasingly likely, when it was found that
reading the first letter of the first 21 candidates
in the poll spelled out a phrase containing
two 4chan memes: "mARBLECAKE.
ALSO, THE GAME".Jokesters and politically
oriented hacktivists may share sophisticated
knowledge of how to manipulate the Web and
social media.
== Countermeasures ==
In Wired it was noted that nation-state rules
such as compulsory registration and threats
of punishment are not adequate measures to
combat the problem of online bots.To guard
against the issue of prior ratings influencing
perception several websites such as Reddit
have taken steps such as hiding the vote-count
for a specified time.Some other potential
measures under discussion are flagging posts
for being likely satire or false.
For instance in December 2016 Facebook announced
that disputed articles will be marked with
the help of users and outside fact checkers.
The company seeks ways to identify 'information
operations' and fake accounts and suspended
30,000 accounts before the presidential election
in France in a strike against information
operations.Inventor of the World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee considers putting few companies
in charge of deciding what is or isn't true
a risky proposition and states that openness
can make the web more truthful.
As an example he points to Wikipedia which,
while not being perfect, allows anyone to
edit with the key to its success being not
just the technology but the governance of
the site − its coordination of countless
volunteers and ways of determining what is
or isn't true.Furthermore, various kinds of
software may be used to combat this problem
such as fake checking software or voluntary
browser extensions that store every website
one reads or use the browsing history to deliver
fake revelations to those who read a fake
story after some kind of consensus was found
on the falsehood of a story.Furthermore, Daniel
Suarez asks society to value critical analytic
thinking and suggests education reforms such
as the introduction of 'formal logic' as a
discipline in schools and training in media
literacy and objective evaluation.
=== Research ===
German chancellor Angela Merkel has issued
the Bundestag to deal with the possibilities
of political manipulation by social bots or
fake news.
== See also ==
== 
Sources ==
This article incorporates text from a free
content work.
Licensed under CC BY SA 3.0 IGO License statement:
World Trends in Freedom of Expression and
Media Development Global Report 2017/2018,
202, University of Oxford, UNESCO.
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