Computational propaganda : political parties, politicians, and political manipulation on social media / edited by Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Howard.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Woolley, Samuel, editor.

Howard, Philip N., editor.

UPSO (University Press Scholarship Online)

Series:

Oxford studies in digital politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Twitter.

Facebook (Electronic resource).

Social media--Political aspects.

Social media.

Online social networks--Political aspects.

Online social networks.

Propaganda--Technological innovations.

Propaganda.

Disinformation--Technological innovations.

Disinformation.

Generators (Computer programs).

Technological innovations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 263 pages).

Place of Publication:

New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, [2019]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Social media platforms do not just circulate political ideas, they support manipulative disinformation campaigns. While some of these disinformation campaigns are carried out directly by individuals, most are waged by software, commonly known as bots, programmed to perform simple, repetitive,robotic tasks. Some social media bots collect and distribute legitimate information, while others communicate with and harass people, manipulate trending algorithms, and inundate systems with spam. Campaigns made up of bots, fake accounts, and trolls can be coordinated by one person, or a smallgroup of people, to give the illusion of large-scale consensus. Some political regimes use political bots to silence opponents and to push official state messaging, to sway the vote during elections, and to defame critics, human rights defenders, civil society groups, and journalists. This book argues that such automation and platform manipulation, amounts to a new political communications mechanism that Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Noward call "computational propaganda." This differs from older styles of propaganda in that it uses algorithms, automation, and human curation topurposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks while it actively learns from and mimicks real people so as to manipulate public opinion across a diverse range of platforms and device networks. This book includes cases of computational propaganda from nine countries (bothdemocratic and authoritarian) and four continents (North and South America, Europe, and Asia), covering propaganda efforts over a wide array of social media platforms and usage in different types of political processes (elections, referenda, and during political crises).

Contents:

Introduction : computational popaganda worldwide / Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Howard

Russia : the origins of digital misinformation / Sergey Sanovich

Ukraine : external threats and internal challenges / Mariia Zhdanova and Dariya Orlova

Canada : building bot typologies / Elizabeth Dubois and Fenwick McKelvey

Poland : unpacking the ecosystem of social media manipulation / Robert Gorwa

Taiwan : digital democracy meets automated autocracy / Nicholas J. Monaco

Brazil : political bot intervention during pivotal events / Dan Arnaudo

Germany : a cautionary tale / Lisa-Maria N. Neudert

United States : manufacturing consensus online / Samuel Woolley and Douglas Guilbeault

China : an alternative model of a widespread practice / Gillian Bolsover

Conclusion : political parties, politicians, and computational propaganda / Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Howard.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Oxford Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 15, 2018).

Other Format:

Print version: Computational propaganda

ISBN:

9780190931421

0190931426

Publisher Number:

40028661039

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.