REVERSE ENGINEERING RUSSIAN INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY TACTICS THROUGH NETWORK ANALYSIS
REVERSE ENGINEERING RUSSIAN INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY TACTICS THROUGH NETWORK ANALYSIS
Author(s): Charles Kriel, Alexa PavliucSubject(s): Media studies, Electoral systems, Present Times (2010 - today), ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: strategic communications; social media; Russian interference; data visualization; network analysis; Internet Research Agency;
Summary/Abstract: In mid-October of 2018, Twitter released a data set containing both the contents and information for accounts on their platform related to the Internet Research Agency. These accounts were used to influence the 2016 US Presidential election, as well as elections and referenda in several other countries, including the UK and Venezuela. This article documents a data analysis of these tweets, and through data visualization demonstrates a rigorous methodology of practice at work in Russia’s online interference in foreign democracies, particularly through St. Petersburg’s Internet Research Agency (IRA). This research will also show that many previous visualizations of this data have failed to factor for time, and therefore overemphasis certain trends. Finally, we question whether Twitter released the entire Internet Research Agency data set, as claimed.
Journal: Defence Strategic Communications
- Issue Year: 6/2019
- Issue No: 6
- Page Range: 199-227
- Page Count: 29
- Language: English