State-linked manipulated media in the time of Covid-19: a look at Iran
What drives changes in the thematic focus of state-linked manipulated media? We study this question in relation to a long-running Iranian state-linked manipulated media campaign that was uncovered by Twitter in 2021. Using a variety of machine learning methods, we uncover and analyze how this manipu...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Data & Policy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2632324924000968/type/journal_article |
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| Summary: | What drives changes in the thematic focus of state-linked manipulated media? We study this question in relation to a long-running Iranian state-linked manipulated media campaign that was uncovered by Twitter in 2021. Using a variety of machine learning methods, we uncover and analyze how this manipulation campaign’s topical themes changed in relation to rising Covid-19 cases in Iran. By using the topics of the tweets in a novel way, we find that increases in domestic Covid-19 cases engendered a shift in Iran’s manipulated media focus away from Covid-19 themes and toward international finance- and investment-focused themes. These findings underscore (i) the potential for state-linked manipulated media campaigns to be used for diversionary purposes and (ii) the promise of machine learning methods for detecting such behaviors. |
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| ISSN: | 2632-3249 |