Tricky Political Tactics in Social Media

Anyone following the 2008 U.S. election knows Obama’s campaign team made very effective use of social media. From YouTube videos to appeals for small donation amounts that added up to hundreds of millions. In Canada’s 2011 election Twitter featured front and centre, not so much as a fundraising tool but as ongoing commentary. But there is a darker side to how social media is used in political campaigns. We take a quick look at some tactics we’re sure to see in the 2012 election. Some are tactics used in quasi-democratic states as well.

Sockpuppeting: In our research projects, we’ve come across this one the most. This is where an individual creates one or more sets of false identities online. These identities are then used to create negative or inflammatory commentary against an opposing political party but appear to be disconnected from a political party. Heavily used in the US, UK and Canada. Sometimes it is just an individual or organization that is aligned to an issue such as environmentalism or a union. This tactic is also known as meatpuppets and sometimes used in stealth marketing.

DeepPersona**: We’ve coined this one ourselves. This is sockpuppeting taken to the next level. One person will likely control between 2-5 personalities. Unlike sockpuppeting where the “identity” is shallow, usually just a fake name and email, in this case they may build deeper histories and profiles across multiple sites and services. These are to provide greater authenticity, although they collapse under scrutiny. In our research we often find these to be used in less democratic countries. They may also be used to influence diaspora or foreign policy in other states.

Cyber Astroturfing: Taken from the long-time practice of astroturfing where a political group rallies a large number of citizens to drive awareness around an issue, but the hiring party hides behind the scenes. In digital astroturfing, this is when the political party or special interest groups rallies others to create awareness in online channels while remaining behind the scenes with “plausible deniability.”

Cyber Provacateur: This can be a nasty thorn to a political party. Similar to the concept of agent provocateur in the real world, this type of agent urges hackers or a group of tech-savvy individuals to cause DoS (Denial of Service) or similar attacks against opponents websites or online properties. They may also foment highly aggressive activity online that is criminal in nature. Such actions are often used in nations such as Iran, Burma (Myanmar), and Ukraine etc.

Cyber Front Group: Similar to real-world front groups that act independent of the funding government, political party or agency. They are formally registered as a non-profit organization. In the US and Canada it may be a religious group or activist group that may or may not know who is providing them cash or resource support, yet they act aggressively on an issue. They target online properties (specifically in social media channels) to rally followers and create disinformation or similar.

Trolls: A well-known term. These we classify as individuals out to cause trouble because, well, they can. That’s their entertainment. They rarely if ever work for anyone but may easily become a sockpuppet without realizing it.

Cyber Quasi-State Organ (CQSO): Seen mostly in fragile, semi-democratic states where the government in power creates an arm of the government that is quasi-governmental. The aim is usually to expend a large amount of time creating pro-government content online, pushing down anti-government sentiment. Hugo Chavez has an arm of Chavistas that do this, Bashir in Sudan used an “army of bloggers” in 2011 and in Iran the Basij (a quasi-state organ) have been doing this since early 2010.

We expect such groups and tactics to grow in the coming years as Cyburbia plays an increasingly important role in the world of ideas and politics is nothing if not a lot of ideology! We have developed an algorithm that can “fingerprint” individuals who attempt to post as multiple people…not matter how much we try, a writing style is very much the same as our voice – unique. This is how we can assess our research into such uses by political groups and others.