ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the global diffusion of the Russian computational propaganda model in order to highlight broader changes in the use of social media in attempts to deceptively alter the flow of information during high-stakes political events. Computational propaganda employs automated and algorithmic methods to spread and amplify messages on social media coupled with the overt propaganda tactics of ideological control and manipulation. New work in computational propaganda suggests that bots were successful in amplifying negative and inflammatory stories and sentiments during the 2017–2018 anti-government protests in Iran and the 2017 Catalan referendum in Spain. The Russian government puts great emphasis on directing information operations – an umbrella term for propaganda efforts that today include computational propaganda. Classic literature from media and propaganda studies, paired with more recent work on computational propaganda, information operations, and political communication helps in formulating theorical understandings of the current and ever-changing state of digital political manipulation.
