Influencer disinformation: Putting a friendly face on information warfare

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• December 9, 2022

Insight summary

As countries, politicians, and companies continue to engage in information warfare, they’re regularly looking for ways to reach as many Internet users as possible. One of the most meaningful and personal ways to convince a group of people is through social media influencers with an audience. However, there are signs that influencers are increasingly being used for disinformation campaigns.

Influencer disinformation context

The World Health Organization called the misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic an “infodemic,” as it resulted in significant adverse health consequences between 2020 to 2022. One of the drivers of this infodemic was social media influencers who denied the existence of the virus (calling it scamdemic) or questioned the efficacy of vaccines to their millions of subscribers. 

Modern social media influencers can spread misinformation at an alarming rate, especially since they have established rapport and trust with their followers, many of whom are teenagers and children. In addition, misinformation and conspiracy theories have contributed to high vaccination hesitancy rates. Beyond health issues, the political sphere has also started using social media influencers to sway public opinion, particularly during elections.

Authoritarian regimes are notorious for using influencers to advance government propaganda. Some of China’s state-affiliated reporters have branded themselves as trendy Instagram influencers or bloggers. The country has also hired firms to recruit influencers to deliver carefully crafted messages that boost its image to social media users, particularly during the height of the pandemic. 

However, some celebrities can unknowingly spread disinformation simply by not verifying their information online. For example, singer Rihanna shared a misleading image of the 2020 Australian bushfires on Twitter. In April 2020, actor Woody Harrelson shared the fictional dangers of 5G technology with his two million Instagram followers. And in July 2020, rapper Kanye West told Forbes that he believed a COVID-19 vaccine could be used to implant chips inside people’s bodies.

Disruptive impact

In 2021, a group of French and German influencers on YouTube revealed that a Russian/UK marketing agency, Fazze, approached them to spread disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. The firm offered to pay them to publicize “leaked” data that suggested the Pfizer vaccine death rate was almost three times that of AstraZeneca’s. There was no such leaked data, and the information was false. While these YouTubers knew they were being “hired” to spread disinformation, they pretended to be interested in learning more about this scheme. They received instructions not to reveal that their videos would be sponsored (which is illegal) and to act like they were advising out of genuine concern for their viewers. 

Meanwhile, as of 2021, Kenyan content creators could earn $10-15 USD daily by smearing activists and journalists on social media. In 2021, the hashtag #AnarchistJudges began appearing on Twitter timelines across Kenya. This Twitter campaign was executed by numerous faceless bots and retweeted by a series of sock puppet accounts (fictitious online identities).

These tweets attempted to damage the reputation of several High Court judges that had just rejected the Constitutional Amendments Bill. The false accusations that the judges were participating in illegal narcotics, bribery, and political corruption quickly rose to become one of the country’s most talked-about topics. An investigation from the media organization Wired conducted several interviews with social media influencers in the country, and there was evidence of a booming, low-radar business of politically hired content creators. Journalists and activists have also experienced constant pressure and threats to silence or destroy their reputations.

Implications of influencer disinformation

Wider implications of influencer disinformation may include: 

• A growing pressure for social media platforms to conduct background checks on their popular users and take down/demonetize false content.
• Journalists and activists experiencing more harassment from organized groups of influencers for hire.
• More state-sponsored influencers employed to deny allegations of national wrongdoing or promote hoaxes/conspiracy theories to distract the masses. 
• Social media influencers earning considerable amounts of money for participating in disinformation campaigns.
• Politicians and companies using more social media influencers for damage control or to divert attention from scandals.
• Increased regulatory scrutiny and stricter content guidelines for social media platforms, leading to enhanced accountability for information dissemination.
• Enhanced development of digital literacy programs in schools, equipping future generations to critically evaluate online content.
• Escalation in the use of AI-based tools by social media companies for detecting and flagging disinformation spread by influencers.

Questions to consider

• What are some of the influencer disinformation campaigns you have seen?
• How can people protect themselves from influencer disinformation?