The ability to win public support can be just as important as the ability to fight the war. Wartime propaganda has been a major influence in many, if not all, of the major wars. One of the first known uses of war propaganda was by Alexander the Great. After being forced to retreat in a battle Alexander the Great realized that it would be a disadvantage to show he was weak and had to retreat.
He overcame this problem by using propaganda to intimidate the opposing army. Another occurrence of wartime propaganda occurred in Vietnam where Americans would kidnap and blindfold Vietnamese fisherman. The result was the Vietnamese concentrating their efforts to destroy a nonexistent group Labash, 20 Dec, One of the most well-known propaganda experts in war history was Adolf Hitler. In Hitler wrote a political statement describing his dislike of the Jewish people and asking that after his death people continue to stay strong in their beliefs.
It was wanted and provoked solely by international statesmen either of Jewish origin or working for Jewish interests. Propaganda posters, such as the one below, were all around Germany. In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler dedicated an entire section to the discussion of war propaganda.
He described the purpose of war propaganda was to support Germany in the war and bring help bring victory. Hitler had the power to use propaganda as a tool that he could use for the control of the masses. His use of propaganda caused a movement against the Jewish people, which eventually led to the holocaust and the extermination of millions of Jewish people. Hitler described his idea of propaganda in his autobiography Mein Kampf:. Goebbels a very good speaker and journalist who continually updated the people on the state of the war making light of the mistakes of the enemy and the power of Germany Beck 1.
When asked about propaganda Dr. Goebbels answered "Propaganda? Good propaganda for a good cause! We advertise for our own ideal, and therefore we fight using all good means to make good propaganda to win the soul of our people" Fritzsche, Goebbels perceived propaganda as an honest tool, which brings the people together for their country.
Eugen Hadamovsky, a German radio announcer described Dr. Goebbels as a German hero. With the support that Dr. Goebbels did not stop at just promoting National Socialism, he continued his successful propaganda campaign during the war effort in order to keep the government support from the German people. In a article given to the German people Dr. Goebbels gave a response to the criticisms that the Americans were giving the Germans.
It was propaganda articles like this that blinded the German people to the eventual destruction that resulted from National Socialism. In his article Dr. Goebbels wrote:. It has every right to do so. Its humanity is shown by lynchings.
Publishers seeking advertising revenue through page views will create misleading or flat-out incorrect "news" articles with sensational or controversial headlines.
Once these articles begin circulating on social media platforms, it can be very difficult to verify or disprove them. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
Propaganda has been an effective tool to shape public opinion and action for centuries. Since propaganda and public relations both share the goal of using mass communication to influence public perception, it can be easy to conflate the two. Propaganda, however, traffics in lies, misinformation, inflammatory language, and other negative communication to achieve an objective related to a cause, goal or political agenda. Though propaganda techniques can be employed by bad actors on the world stage, these same concepts can be utilized by individuals in their interpersonal relationships.
Regardless of how propaganda is employed, these common techniques are used to manipulate others to act or respond in the way that the propagandist desires. The desire to fit in with peers has long been recognized as a powerful force in society. Propagandists can exploit this longing by using the bandwagon technique to appeal to the public. This common propaganda technique is used to convince the public to think, speak, or act in a particular way simply because others are.
This technique involves convincing the public to behave in ways that are agreeable to the propagandists and serve their purposes. In order for this technique to be successful, propagandists have to first position themselves as having a product, idea or opinion that is worthy of elite status. Many publicists in charge of public relations for companies employ a similar technique as a way to maintain the perception that the business creates and sells high-quality goods.
Propagandists sometimes achieve their goal of swaying public opinion simply by using empty words. Social networking platforms combine news consumption with social interaction, turning social interaction into a mechanism of content proliferation and selective amplification Zuckerman, In online environments, the consumption of propaganda is deeply embedded in the structure of social relations, which allows the propaganda to further infiltrate our everyday lives.
More important are the ways social media and the spread of online content create opportunities for immediate action: spreading propaganda further, or taking other actions directly suggested by the propaganda. Historically, however, the means of propaganda distribution and the means of action were separate and distinct. The target or subject of propaganda was first exposed to a message via leaflet, poster, newspaper article, or broadcast message , which they subsequently acted upon.
Due to the participatory nature of digital technologies, propaganda distribution, consumption, and participation often share the same platform and are mediated by the same digital devices such as mobile phones or laptops. The person exposed to propaganda is also offered a selection of actions to carry out often instantly in the same virtual environment. The consequences of these new participatory affordances are particularly visible in the context of conflicts.
At least three novel aspects in the relationship between social media and propaganda are worth considering:. Digitally mediated participation in the creation and proliferation of propaganda and various online content-related activities, including various forms of engagement with content from commenting to complaining.
Digitally mediated participation in online and offline action triggered by propaganda, beyond content-related activities and relying on various forms of crowdsourcing.
The action of disconnection, using digital means to effect the immediate cutting of social ties, including unfollowing, unfriending or blocking. The participatory nature of propaganda, particularly where propaganda is linked to a call to take part in propaganda efforts, has been well-documented. It is important to differentiate between open and transparent calls to participate in the generation, proliferation, and verification of content in order to support your state, and various forms of clandestine or camouflaged online manipulation designed to trigger user participation.
An illustration of an open call can be seen in the case of the Ukrainian I-army project launched by the Ukrainian Ministry of Information:. Every Ukrainian who has access to the Internet can contribute to the struggle. A similar type of initiative could be seen on the Russian side. For example, follow the link and leave a comment. What could be easier? Today it is important the participation of everyone who loves his Motherland. In many cases, however, user participation is driven not by open, direct calls, but by various forms of psychological manipulation.
We can also differentiate between volunteer and paid forms of users participation. These paid forms of participation as in the case of the Chinese 50 cents party limit the scope of participants and usually operate in secret. The notion of crowdsourcing is particularly useful when analyzing participatory propaganda, as mobile devices are not only good tools for recirculating content, but also for mobilizing resources.
When combined with crowdsourcing, propaganda offers a double effect. It not only builds awareness of the propaganda messaging, but also allows users to respond to propaganda issues at the same time and through the same channel. The range of user resources that can be mobilized by relying on digital mediation of propaganda is astounding and includes: sensor resources for data collection ; analytical resources for data classification ; intellectual resources to build knowledge and skills ; social resources to engage more people around a specific goal ; financial resources also known as crowdfunding , and physical resources.
Content-related activities, such as sharing, liking, commenting and complaining, can also be viewed as a form of crowdsourcing since the generation and proliferation of content also relies on the mobilization of user activity. Crowdsourcing as a concept is particularly helpful in showing how propaganda-driven digitally mediated activity goes beyond the usual content-related actions that take place online.
The Russia-Georgia and Russia-Ukraine conflicts illustrate the range of potential activities in this context Deibert et al. This includes data-gathering for intelligence purposes, diverse forms of open-source intelligence analysis OSINT , various forms of hacktivism, logistical support for different sides of a conflict, including the purchasing of military equipment through crowdfunding, and various forms of offline volunteering.
Some forms of participation are afforded by increasing the role of big data. For example, modern conflicts take place in an environment where all sides of the conflict as well as the local population in the areas of conflict generate conflict-related data.
These data create new opportunities for gathering valuable intelligence, both for informational as well as ground warfare. In that way, users have an opportunity to participate in data generation, collection, and analysis. Some users develop skills for open source intelligence and create online data analytics communities.
Members of communities also teach others how to analyze conflict-related data. These community groups played a major role in confirming the presence of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, despite denials by Russian leaders, exposing the scale of casualties among Russian soldiers, as well as investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight Some Russian conflict related data are not available in open sources, but are still obtained by hackers from both sides of the conflict.
Various forms of hacker activities include accessing restricted data or attacking websites that are considered enemy targets. Most aspects of hacktivism require some degree of advanced skills, though a broad range of Internet users can carry out hacking-related tasks using standard computing resources and tools that simplify participation.
That analysis fed into propaganda and counter propaganda efforts by both sides of the conflict, while also providing valuable intelligence. Various crowdfunding initiatives sprang up on both sides of the conflict, and relied on social networks and blogs as well as dedicated websites. These crowdfunding efforts supported both traditional military units particularly on the Ukrainian side as well as volunteer units, with most of the funds collected being used to purchase military equipment and ammunition.
Other crowdfunding efforts enabled offline engagement of Internet users. For example, by using the funds to purchase drones, some Ukrainian users were able to self-organize and establish volunteer groups for air reconnaissance drone-based surveillance in order to gather real-time intelligence. Digital platforms also played a major role in engagement and coordination of various types of warfare-related offline activities.
A variety of Ukrainian groups relied on social networks, messengers, and crowdsourcing platforms to coordinate logistical support for volunteer battalions and military units. On the Russian side, dedicated Vkontakte groups as well as the website Dobrovolec.
And social media on both sides of the conflict allowed users to provide humanitarian assistance to people displaced by conflict. These forms of participation were shaped by the perception of the conflict as it was communicated via digital media on both the Russian and Ukraine side. To some extent, Ukrainian users formed a digitally mediated ecosystem of participation where various forms of conflict-related activity supported one another.
While participatory propaganda and crowdsourced participation leverage the non-geographic nature of digital content to place production and action in the same channel — a channel that pervades all physical and social spaces in human life — they are not the truly disruptive faces of this phenomenon.
More disturbing is propaganda that seeks disconnection. Disconnection shapes the boundaries of social networks and consequently their social structure. It is easy to forget that before the digital age, disconnection from a friend required either face-to-face action, such as a refusal to shake hands, or time-consuming mediated action such as sending a letter.
Online social networking sites SNSs offer not only easier ways to make friends, but also easier ways to unmake them. The affordance of disconnection depends on the particular design of a social networking site. On Facebook, one of the most common acts of disconnection is unfriending. It is very easy to cut social ties online, as most of us know by now. And, like other types of digitally mediated activities, the disconnection takes place in the same domain as the messages are distributed.
Because of this, when political messages including propaganda are pushed out, they can be followed by an immediate act of disconnection, particularly since other users take an active role in the generation and proliferation of the content.
When we receive propaganda via social networks, we are forced to decide whether the sender should remain part of our social network. And because people are exposed to the political opinions of their Facebook friends, as well as other bits of information they may not have been privy to otherwise, propaganda becomes an effective tool for disconnection and polarization. That is, the impact of messages can be seen in changes to social structure and goes beyond the specific context of the situation that triggers unfriending.
In the case of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, considerable evidence suggests that the conflict had a robustly destructive impact on strong ties, including those between relatives, close friends and classmates. It mainly affected relationships that had been developed long before the conflict Asmolov, The type of social relationship most affected by disconnective practice was between former classmates. Many platforms and groups support relationships between classmates, including Facebook and a social network called Odnoklassniki classmates that is popular among users aged 40 and over.
Through these platforms, many people who shared the same school room dozens of years ago found themselves on different sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. One Facebook user reported that she unfriended two of her classmates because of their position on the situation in Crimea. Another user from Ukraine described on Facebook an experience of chatting with classmates from Russia on WhatsApp. When his classmates discovered that he lives in Ukraine, they began discussing the conflict and eventually tried to ban him from the chat.
A Ukrainian user, Irina Anilovksaya, published a book in describing the experience of conflict-driven disconnection between people who were once close friends. In the book, Irina describes a two-day exchange of online messages between herself and her classmate Alexander, who lives in Russia.
What do these new digital affordances actually do to us as individuals? And what are the effects of participatory propaganda on our individual and collective psyches? Propaganda that relies on the participatory design of digital networks is best explained by looking at the link between two interrelated processes: the socialization of political conflicts and the internalization of political conflicts.
Nothing is so contagious. Today the digital public sphere offers a new set of tools for the manipulation and control of citizen engagement in conflicts. The socialization of conflict is now driven by the content proliferated through social networks, as well as through the digital affordances of online platforms that offer a range of responses to conflict. The role of content in the socialization of conflicts relies on the distinctive nature of social networking platforms that combine the consumption of news with social interaction, and makes social interaction a mechanism of content proliferation.
The main purpose of 21st century propaganda is to increase the scope of participation in relation to the object of propaganda.
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