Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media

by P.W. Singer

at least twenty-nine regimes have followed this new model of censorship to “steer public opinion, spread misinformation, and undermine critics.”

in 2017 at least eighteen national-level elections were targeted by such social media manipulation.

The average U.S. internet user was basically a walking bag of cash, worth four times the advertising dollars of anyone else in the world—and

A study of the top election news–related stories found that false reports received more engagement on Facebook than the top stories from all the major traditional news outlets combined.

There was one cardinal rule in the business, though: target the Trumpkins. It wasn’t that the teens especially cared about Trump’s political message, but, as Dmitri explained, “nothing [could] beat” his supporters when it came to clicking on their made-up stories.

Of the top twenty best-performing fake stories spread during the election, seventeen

were unrepentantly pro-Tru...

the single most popular news story of the entire election—“Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President”—was a lie fabricated in Macedonia before blasting across American social networks. Three times as many Americans read and shared it on their social media...

If anything, the fault lay with the traditional news media, which had left so much easy money on the table. “They’re not allowed to lie,” Dmitri noted scornfully.