RussiaGate and Propaganda: Disinformation in the Age of Social Media

146 Pages·2019·1.584 MB·English

by  Oliver Boyd-Barrett

RussiaGate and Propaganda
This book furthers our understanding of the practice of propaganda with a
specific focus on the RussiaGate case.
RussiaGate is a discourse about alleged Russian “meddling” in US
elections, and this book argues that it functions as disinformation or
distraction. The book provides a framework for a better understanding of
ongoing developments of RussiaGate, linking these to macroconsiderations
that rarely enter mainstream accounts. It demonstrates the considerable
weaknesses of many of the charges that have been made against Russia
by US investigators, and argues that this discourse fails to take account
of broader non-transparent persuasion campaigns operating in the
election-information environment that are strengthened by social media
manipulation. RussiaGate has obscured many of the factors that challenge
the integrity of democratic process in the USA. These deserve a much
higher priority than any influence that Russia may want to exert. The
book concludes that RussiaGate discourse needs to be contextualized with
reference to a long-established broader competition between great powers
for domination of EurAsia. This pitches the USA/European Union against
Russia/China and perhaps, ultimately, even the USA against Europe.
This book will be of much interest to students of media and communication
studies, propaganda studies, US politics, Russian politics, and International
Relations in general.
Oliver Boyd-Barrett is Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green State University
and California State Polytechnic University, USA.

RussiaGate and Propaganda
Disinformation in the Age
of Social Media
Oliver Boyd-Barrett
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Oliver Boyd-Barrett
The right of Oliver Boyd-Barrett to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Boyd-Barrett, Oliver, author.
Title: RussiaGate and propaganda : disinformation in the age of
social media / Oliver Boyd-Barrett.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019016498 | ISBN 9780367202620 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780429260537 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Presidents—United States—Election—2016. |
Propaganda, Russian—United States. | Mass media and
propaganda. | Elections—Corrupt practices—United States. |
Internet in political campaigns—United States. | Disinformation. |
Fake news. | Social media—United States—History—
21st century. | Hacking—Russia (Federation) | Political
campaigns—United States—History—21st century. |
United States—Foreign relations—Russia (Federation) | Russia
(Federation)—Foreign relations—United States. |
Trump, Donald, 1946– | Clinton, Hillary Rodham.
Classification: LCC E911 .B69 2020 | DDC 324.973/090512—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019016498
ISBN: 978-0-367-20262-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-26053-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage LLC
For Sofia, Dean, and Colette

Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1 Trump’s campaign, the “Steele” dossier, and the
intelligence community assessment 6
2 “Election meddling” and the health of US democracy 18
3 “Bots” and “trolls” 26
4 Cambridge Analytica and Strategic Communications
Laboratories (SCL) 42
5 Implications for social media 53
6 Fake news and intelligence: enter “spooks” 60
7 Fake news and intelligence: hacks and hackers 71
8 RussiaGate and the Russian “threat” 82
References 100
Index 130
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the organizers and students of the OSHER program
at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) and my colleagues
and students in the Department of Communication at CSUCI for their con-
tinuing inspiration. I would like to extend my thanks to Professor Olga Bay-
sha for her assistance in arranging my 2018 visit to the Higher School of
Economics in Moscow, and to the faculty and students that I was privileged
to address during that visit. Equally, I want to thank Professor Changchang
Wu for his assistance in arranging my 2018 visit to the East China Normal
University, Shanghai and to express my appreciation to the faculty and stu-
dents whom I was privileged to address. In all three cases I am deeply grate-
ful for the interest that was shown and the thoughtful questions that were
put to me. I had the good fortune to travel to both Moscow and Shanghai in
the company of my wife Leah without whose constant support, goodwill,
and patience neither this book nor any other of my publications would have
seen the light of day.
I am thankful to my series co-editor Andrew Hoskins for inviting me to
join him in this exciting Routledge series a decade ago. As always, I am
grateful to the consistently professional, supportive and wise guidance of
Andrew Humphrys, senior editor of the Media, War and Security series.
I express my deep appreciation to Andrew, his editorial assistant Bethany
Lund-Yates, and to the entire Routledge team for the work they do.
Introduction
Perceptions of western mainstream media
In the spring of 2018 I addressed students, faculty, and public in universi-
ties of three countries – California State University Channel Islands (USA)
(undergraduate students of the University’s degree program and senior
adults of its OSHER program), Higher School of Economics in Moscow
(Russia), and the East China Normal University in Shanghai (China).
My presentations examined legacy and social media coverage of “fake
news” and “RussiaGate” (2016–2019). In California as in Moscow and
Shanghai I discerned that many listeners identified positively with western
mainstream media, especially those of the USA and the UK (easily acces-
sible in Russia and in China through the use of VPNs) contrasting these
favorably with media of Russia and China. I surprised many with the view
that western mainstream media are not dependably “safe” sources on top-
ics that touch on matters of great sensitivity to the main centers of power,
especially those with which we may associate the term “Washington Con-
sensus,” and its outlook on world affairs.
Brief history and prospective of fake news
President Donald Trump introduced a new chapter to a long history of fake
news. Here was an establishment figure denigrating media for stories that he
claimed were untrue and/or biased. Trump’s complaints – petulant and self-
serving as they often seemed – had some basis, since many so-called liberal
media did indeed demonstrate bias against Trump, even if critics considered
he had brought negative coverage upon himself.
“Fake news” is nothing new and has always raised concern. The term is
itself 200 years old (Jankowski 2018). It is closely associated with a range
of others, including “propaganda,” disinformation,” “information opera-
tions,” “perception management,” “public diplomacy,” and “organized per-
suasive communication.”