The Digitization of Disinformation Campaigns

The information revolution changed the way state-organized disinformation campaigns are conducted. The spreading of various forms of propaganda, confusing half-truths and pure falsehoods has accelerated, and social media has made it possible to reach an increasing number of people in a targeted fashion, in an ever-shorter news cycle. In the past disinformation actors mostly tried to persuade an audience of a single made-up story. Nowadays in the so-called post-truth era, disinformation actors rather attempt to dissuade an audience of the evidence-based story by disseminating an unending number of alternative narratives. At the core of this research lays the question how to deal with disinformation in digitized society.

Theodor Kranefeld graduated with a master's in political science at RWTH Aachen University in 2019. His bachelor's degree in European Studies was obtained at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.