Creating chaos online : disinformation and subverted post-publics / Asta Zelenkauskaitė.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zelenkauskaite, Asta, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fake news--Political aspects.

Fake news.

Online trolling--Political aspects--Russia (Federation).

Online trolling.

Disinformation--Political aspects.

Disinformation.

Deception--Political aspects.

Deception.

Social media--Authorship--Political aspects.

Social media.

Internet--Political aspects.

Internet.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (319 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2022.

Summary:

With the prevalence of disinformation geared to instill doubt rather than clarity, Creating Chaos Online unmasks disinformation when it attempts to pass as deliberation in the public sphere and distorts the democratic processes. Asta Zelenkauskaitė finds that repeated tropes justifying Russian trolling were found to circulate across not only all analyzed media platforms' comments but also across two analyzed sociopolitical contexts suggesting the orchestrated efforts behind messaging. Through a dystopian vision of publics that are expected to navigate in the sea of uncertain both authentic and orchestrated content, pushed by human and nonhuman actors, Creating Chaos Online offers a concept of post-publics. Post-publics is reflected within the continuum of treatment of public, counter public, and anti-public. This book argues that affect-instilled arguments used in public deliberation in times of uncertainty, along with whataboutism constitute a playbook for chaos online.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Introduction. A Déjà Vu from the Silenced Generation

Disinformation

Soviet Propaganda in the Eyes of a Child

Vulnerabilities of Social Media

Trolling and Russian Trolling

Russian Trolling Circulation

Chapter 1. Propagandistic Masquerade

Text as a Mask

Paradoxes of a Mask

Subversiveness of a Mask

Performativity and Modus Operandi of a Propagandist Mask: self-sabotage

Multiple Faces for the Masks: Commenting User Typology

Discussion

Summary

Chapter 2. Divide and Conquer: Exploiting Political Polarization

Frameworks of Information Persuasion

Communication Persuasion Models

Mechanics of Propaganda

Communicative Tactics: Attack, Defense, and Whataboutism

Tactics Used in Online News Comments

Chapter 3. Instilling Mistrust in Institutions

Living in Media

Comments as Forms of News Deliberations

News Portals Comments as Information Warfare Zones

Contexts That Situate Online Public Deliberation

Discrediting Media as an Institution

Attack on Government Institutions

Chapter 4. Roots of Russia's Victim's Playing

New Media and Information Warfare in Authoritarian Regimes

Roots of Russia's (Information) Warfare

Information Warfare in Action by Russia

Victim-Playing Russian Trolls in the News Comments

Delegitimization Rhetoric

Chapter 5. Deny and Conquer: Fears of Looking Like a "Pussy State"

Implications of the Denialism Discourse regarding Russian Trolling

Psychology of Denialism

Denial and Conspiracy Theories

Denial Normalization Traps to Avoid

Epilogue: Now What?

Imperviousness to Chaos

What Solutions Are There for Russian Trolling?

Web as a Zero Institution

Appendix

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-293) and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472902903

0472902903

OCLC:

1324241760