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Emily Bienvenue, Computational propaganda: political parties, politicians, and political manipulation on social media, International Affairs, Volume 96, Issue 2, March 2020, Pages 525–527, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiaa018
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Extract
This book makes a valuable contribution to the expanding field of research focusing on the online manipulation of people for political ends, and the threat posed to democracies by this new form of propaganda. Via a series of case-studies, the contributors offer a detailed illustration of how automation, scalability and anonymity offer computational propaganda not only a speed and scope of influence, but also a level of persistence and persuasiveness that distinguishes it from attempts to manipulate and mislead through leaflet drops, radio announcements and televised media. As intended by the contributors, the granular detail Computational propaganda provides about precisely how information flows through digital platforms could inform more effective regulatory responses.
The case-studies present the flow of information through social media platforms and illustrate how persistent and persuasive this digitally vectored propaganda truly is. The hyperconnectivity of the digital age provides the opportunity for political actors to access the minds of whole societies around the clock and the deluge of personal data allows them to identify sympathetic targets through online surveillance and ‘persuade’ or ‘engineer’ their behaviour with precision through the use of personalized algorithms, bots, sock puppets and fake news.
