Identifying and Measuring User and Platform Vulnerabilities to Strategic Information Operations
Abstract
The United States and its allies are facing a growing threat of strategic information operations (SIO), influence campaigns organized by foreign actors to spread propaganda, disinformation, or manipulative content on social media platforms. Prior work has uncovered many dynamics of SIOs; however, what is lacking is an understanding of how user- and platform-specific vulnerabilities are exploited by SIOs to increase their reach and effectiveness. After all, SIOs do not merely take place on platforms, they are mediated through platforms. Platforms circulate content, including influence campaigns, through an algorithmic process that uses engagement metrics to map user preferences and classify posts. Platform algorithms, in turn, use this data to identify and deliver content deemed relevant to users, creating a feedback loop between user engagement and algorithmic curation. Within the context of SIOs, this means that how a user chooses to engage with propaganda, disinformation, or manipulative content will affect the likelihood that the platform delivers similar content to that user in the future.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 14, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310730
Entities
People
- Brian Ekdale
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Iowa