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2RPP Creating Chaos Online 2RPP 2RPP Creating Chaos Online Disinformation and Subverted Post- Publics Asta Zelenkauskaitė University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor 2RPP Copyright © 2022 by Asta Zelenkauskaitė Some rights reserved This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Note to users: A Creative Commons license is only valid when it is applied by the person or entity that holds rights to the licensed work. Works may contain components (e.g., photographs, illustrations, or quotations) to which the rightsholder in the work cannot apply the license. It is ultimately your responsibility to independently evaluate the copyright status of any work or component part of a work you use, in light of your intended use. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ For questions or permissions, please contact [email protected] Published in the United States of America by the University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid- free paper First published September 2022 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication data has been applied for. ISBN 978- 0- 472- 07552- 2 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978- 0- 472- 05552- 4 (paper : alk. paper) ISBN 978- 0- 472- 90290- 3 (OA) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12237294 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022939744 2RPP To Živilė, Jūratė, and Danutė With love 2RPP 2RPP Contents Introduction. A Déjà Vu from the Silenced Generation 1 Disinformation 3 Soviet Propaganda in the Eyes of a Child 9 Vulnerabilities of Social Media 17 Trolling and Russian Trolling 23 Russian Trolling Circulation 30 Chapter 1. Propagandistic Masquerade 38 Text as a Mask 39 Paradoxes of a Mask 40 Subversiveness of a Mask 46 Performativity and Modus Operandi of a Propagandist Mask: self-sabotage 56 Multiple Faces for the Masks: Commenting User Typology 64 Discussion 75 Summary 79 Chapter 2. Divide and Conquer: Exploiting Political Polarization 81 Frameworks of Information Persuasion 84 Communication Persuasion Models 85 Mechanics of Propaganda 87 Communicative Tactics: Attack, Defense, and Whataboutism 99 Tactics Used in Online News Comments 102 Discussion 119 Summary 121 2RPP viii Contents Chapter 3. Instilling Mistrust in Institutions 127 Living in Media 129 Comments as Forms of News Deliberations 136 News Portals Comments as Information Warfare Zones 139 Contexts That Situate Online Public Deliberation 143 Discrediting Media as an Institution 146 Attack on Government Institutions 154 Discussion 157 Summary 162 Chapter 4. Roots of Russia’s Victim’s Playing 171 New Media and Information Warfare in Authoritarian Regimes 173 Roots of Russia’s (Information) Warfare 177 Information Warfare in Action by Russia 186 Victim- Playing Russian Trolls in the News Comments 195 Delegitimization Rhetoric 202 Summary 218 Chapter 5. Deny and Conquer: Fears of Looking Like a “Pussy State” 220 Implications of the Denialism Discourse regarding Russian Trolling 221 Psychology of Denialism 227 Denial and Conspiracy Theories 231 Denial Normalization Traps to Avoid 234 Discussion 245 Summary 249 Epilogue: Now What? 255 Imperviousness to Chaos 255 What Solutions Are There for Russian Trolling? 260 Web as a Zero Institution 265 Appendix 267 Bibliography 271 Index 295 Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12237294 2RPP Introduction A Déjà Vu from the Silenced Generation “Denial, a psychological defense mechanism, is an unconscious mental maneuver that cancels out or obscures painful reality. . . . We do not need to confront or change things that do not exist” (Milburn, 1998, p. 1) Denial describes information operations that allow for the achieving of stra- tegic goals. This book is set to expose efforts to justify Russian trolling. Spe- cifically, this book documents patterns and frames of systematic denialism used to justify Russian trolling that circulated in two unrelated contexts and periods of time. This book not only uncovers justification arguments and the way they are constructed but also provides explanations of their origins and what led them to become so pervasive online. Furthermore, through the concept of post- publics, this book exemplifies how the public spheres are disrupted by employing discursive means of denialism, despite rational evidence grounded in facts. I am compelled to examine the characteristics of Russian trolling across online platforms for a range of reasons. Russian trolling has been exposed as an ideological weapon employed to manipulate public opinion aided by disinformation (Berghel & Berleant, 2018). Manipulation was found to be adopting tactics typical for astroturfing trolling such as disruption and dis- trust (Berghel & Berleant, 2018), and deflection of attention to irrelevant issues (Zelenkauskaite & Niezgoda, 2017), thus creating chaos online. This book is further driven by questions such as, What makes it so dif- ficult to render Russian trolling visible despite unequivocal evidence? How does the justification of Russian trolling interference challenge democratic