Thread by @Heidi_Cuda

THE INFLUENCE WAR: Words Can Hurt You, But Truth Punches Back.

@EmmaLBriant @drnataliemartin @carolecadwalla reveal the real impacts of misinformation, disinformation + malinformation.

Triggering me to reveal a personal attack and how we fight.
maewestside.tumblr.com/post/663352837… @psampg

My fondness for investigative reporter Carole Cadwalladr and Dr. Emma Briant, a researcher and professor, led me to spend an hour with them on the third installment of the “PSA Media and Politics Group Seminar: Power, Politics, and Media.”

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https://twitter.com/psampg/status/1439908100895608833

Dr Briant kicked off the lecture with her research, “Neuro Targeting in the Influence Operations--from Psyop to Politics,” and the special case of Cambridge Analytica. With her background in information warfare, counterterrorism communications & research into how militaries..

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…utilize propaganda, Briant honed in on one area where Cambridge Analytica was very effective: neurotics. If CA--essentially a shell company for defense contractor SCL--identified neurotics, they could market and sell fear.

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“SCL were among the first people looking at neurotargeting,” she said. “Essentially, researching the brain to predict and potentially manipulate audience behavior and decision making.”

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Bone-chilling, stuff. Easy to see how authoritarian leaders could use such research and data to control entire populations, which of course causes profound ethical concerns.

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“We need to be paying close attention to neuroticism,” she said. “It seemed to create much greater engagement by audiences when targeting neurotics with fear-based messaging. If we are neurotic, we are more likely to experience anxiety.”

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She spoke about the church data-mining company, Gloo, which repurposes their data for political purposes. Although Gloo denies this, Briant had emails revealing otherwise. In addition, she reminded us that CA shared their data with Russia.

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She also revealed how peddling conspiracy theories to those with mental health conditions is, quite frankly, amoral and unethical.

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MALINFORMATION

It was while listening to Dr. Natalie Martin that I had to pull over and suck in some air.

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As Dr. Martin explain the distinctions between misinformation and disinformation, she included a new term I had not yet heard: malinformation. Malinformation is truth that is used to discredit someone professionally or personally.

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I had been the target of concerted online and offline attacks to discredit me in my personal life, as well as my professional life. My big sin was to take a job on a campaign to unseat Russia’s favorite Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, from Congress.

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From the moment I made the announcement that I would be the Director of Communications for a very talented Muslim-American candidate, and from the first celebrity retweet, the malinformaton campaign commenced.

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My life was shattered inside and out within days, and it would take years before I could see how coordinated the effort was. In an Influence War, there are no rear areas.

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In my case, I grew three layers of skin, and fought louder. I formed allies throughout the world, and we are stronger in numbers. With little to no resources, we go up against corrupt billionaires daily, and our work is making a difference.

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One of the most public disinformation and malinformation attacks on a female journalist was the brutal campaign against Carole Cadwalladr, who exposed the malign forces behind the Brexit campaign.

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“I feel like I’ve been the target of propaganda,” she said. “I feel it has had a lasting impact, and in very real life ways. It’s manufactured online, but it has ongoing effects in terms of my life and career. It made me into a contested political figure..

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..and that’s a hard space to do journalism in. I am now seen as a legitimate target, a cultural hate figure. And that brings baggage that I carry now into everything I do.”

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A GLOBAL HERO FOR TRUTJ

Carole is also a global hero for truth, and no amount of pokey and twee shit heels can take that away from her.

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A BIT SHIT

“All that stuff is poorly understood,” said Cadwalladr. “But on the plus side, I’ve come to understand it. So on the plus side, it aided my understanding; on the minus side, it’s a bit shit.”

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A viewer phoned into the seminar who had been recruited into SCL 15 years ago, and said he smelled a rat and stayed far away. “It’s called smearing,” he said. “And it’s been part of democracy for decades.”

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That may be, but in an Influence War, the targets are no longer just political figures. Hiring bad actors to silence journalists, particularly female journalists, is cheap and easy.

Thankfully, we are not.

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I wake up every day ready to fight this war. I don’t like it. We know who the creeps are: they are the ones lying, rotting from the inside, their telltale hearts beating so loud we can hear them across continents.

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One day, the law will catch up, and the separation between online harassment and real world harassment will no longer exist.

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The perpetrators of this real world evil will be punished. The truth tellers will be vindicated. One day. That day should be now.

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Author Heidi Siegmund Cuda is an Emmy award-winning investigative reporter, producer, and filmmaker.

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Your generous support of my independent investigative journalism allows me to support others in this fight. Thank you!
ko-fi.com/heidicuda15373

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