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Jon Hopkins

Instructor Sarah Haak

ENG 1510

November 13, 2017

The New Age of Propaganda: Russias Internet War

Russian propaganda during the Cold War was seen as a great threat to the United States

and all western nations and much was done to counter it both overtly and covertly. After the

Berlin Wall fell, however, it was believed that such as response would no longer be needed.

Propaganda, and particularly Russian propaganda, has returned and changed immensely since the

Cold War and, the Kremlin has clearly returned to its Cold War practices. but they go further

and take advantage of new tools and opportunities facilitated by the Internet, cable news,

and especially social media (Chivvis, Christopher S). This new propaganda doctrine has

evolved significantly in recent years with President Putin in power. It represents a serious threat

to free speech and democracy around the globe and must be taken seriously. While one of the

traditional roles of propaganda was to promote one ideology over another and cast the nation or

group that created it in a positive manner, The ultimate aim of the Kremlins international

media is not to make anyone like Russia ... Instead, information is used to sow divisions,

demoralize, and dis-organize (Confronting Russia's Weaponization of Information, pg. 6). This

propaganda effort has been used as a part of a larger form of warfare called hybrid warfare

which is, --a mix of media, economic and cultural warfare with a dab of cover military action

(Confronting Russia's Weaponization of Information, pg. 6). These efforts have had significant

real-world effects on events such as the Russian annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern

Ukraine in 2014 and the 2016 US election, which is still being investigated to this day.
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The application of this new form of propaganda warfare was ramped up in recent years

especially prior to the 2016 United States presidential election which saw Donald Trump win --

who was heavily favored by the Russians. A key judgement made by the United States

intelligence community was that, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence

campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russias goals were to undermine public

faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and

potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear

preference for President-select Trump (Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US

Elections, ii). This represents a clear interference in the US election process by a foreign nation.

While this is certainly not the first time the Russian government has interfered in a foreign

election, it is the first time they have tried it in the US since the Soviet era. The implications of

this interference are presumed to be extremely significant as members of the Trump

administration continue to be indicted by a special counsel.

One of the many tools in Russias arsenal that capitalizes on the use of social media in

particular are organizations that have become known as troll farms -- such as the Internet

Research Agency in St. Petersburg, Russia. According to Adrian Chen, who investigated this so-

called research agency, The agency had become known for employing hundreds of Russians to

post pro-Kremlin propaganda online under fake identities, including on Twitter, in order to

create the illusion of a massive army of supporters (Chen, Adrian). While these accounts may

be fake, they have had real world implications, in one case, Russian actors organized both anti-

Islam and pro-Islam protests in the same location at the same time on May 21, 2016, using

separate Facebook pages operated from a so-called troll farm in St. Petersburg, the Senate

Intelligence Committee disclosed on Wednesday (Bertrand, Natasha). Events like this one
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promoted division between Americans especially prior to the 2016 election from over 8,000

kilometers away. This event was not isolated and many like it promoted discord and panic

among Americans who were secretly being manipulated by Russian puppet masters. Another

goal of this massive army of trolls is to, trash the information space with so much

misinformation that a conversation based on actual facts would become impossible. This is not

merely an information war but a war on information (Confronting Russia's Weaponization of

Information, pg. 7). This act of flooding social media with fake information has proven to be

effective as most consumers do not evaluate the reliability of sources they see online and instead

accept it as fact if it fits their viewpoints.

The US response to this propaganda threat has been greatly lacking to date. The scope of

programs such as Voice of America (VOA) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has

been extremely limited compared to programs such as Voice of Russia (VR) or Russia Today

(RT) both of which reach audiences around the world including the United States. One of the

reasons for this is the very nature of democracy in the United States which promotes free speech

which, has allowed Russian media to flourish within our own borders in the name of freedom of

expression (Confronting Russia's Weaponization of Information, pg. 21). Another reason for

this shortcoming is a lack of funding while, It is estimated that Putin is spending more than

$600 million a year to deride democratic pluralism (Confronting Russia's Weaponization of

Information, pg. 2). In order to combat this threat, it has been recommended that the US reform

the BBG and increase funding to both it and the VOA to increase broadcasts, especially to

countries like Ukraine that live in the shadow of Russia under constant threat of invasion.

Russian propaganda is widespread in Eastern European nations and played a critical role

in Russias annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014. It is a significant

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threat to Russias closest neighbors including Ukraine and the Baltic States. Kremlin influence

in Central Europe, especially over US allies such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia,

is grounded in historical links to the Soviet empire (Chivvis, Christopher S.) These ties, and the

proximity of these countries to Russia itself lend a hand to the Russian government which is

attempting to cast the West in a negative light and create tensions between NATO members.

Putin also uses this propaganda as a scare tactic to convince his own people that their nation is

under attack by the West which, uses the concept of war on Russian information policy, which

justifies war with Ukraine (as in March 2014) (Vainys, Andrius.). Russia uses these perceived

threats to their own security and information space to justify intervention up to and including

invasion in other countries. This pattern is not likely to stop any time soon as, Russia is

increasing its control of the Internet and pouring money into info-war operationsas long as its

failing economy remains manageable, the Kremlin will continue to protect its interests in the

infosphere (Aro pg. 129).

While these attempts at influence have not gone unopposed, those who do oppose and

expose these attempts at subversion are targeted. Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro said that,

Journalists covering conflicts are often the first targets for info-war campaigns and

propagandist, as journalism undermines the effects of propaganda, and propagandists want to use

reporters to spread disinformation among a larger audience. Both in Finland and internationally

there have been various cases in which pro-Kremlin influencers have intimidated citizens,

journalists and researchers who have attempted to uncover Russian info-war tactics or

espionage (Aro pg. 127). Fear of these attacks have led to self-censorship by journalists who

fear attack from pro-Russian sources, whether it be a cyber attack or a physical one.
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Attempts to influence elections have not been limited to just the United States. The

Russian government has attempted to oust Angela Merkel, who has served as Chancellor of

Germany since 2005, in recent elections because of her hard-liner stance against the Russian

invasion of Crimea and Ukraine. In 2007, authorities in Estonia decided to remove a Soviet-era

war memorial from the center of their capital city of Tallinn. This removal created furious

backlash from Russian media sources which broadcast to Estonia. This led to pro-Russian groups

starting riots in the city and a cyber-attack that disabled parts of Estonias government and

banking districts. This was a deliberate show of force that showed, Moscow was sending a

message, despite membership of NATO and EU, that Estonia and all other frontline states were

still vulnerable and the Kremlin could cripple them ... show that Western and, specifically,

American promises of security are empty (Confronting Russia's Weaponization of Information,

pg. 6). This was not only an attack on a European nation but an attack on the confidence of our

allies in the United States and its ability to protect fellow NATO members from Russian

aggression.

Media sources inside of Russia are almost all controlled or heavily influenced by the state

and serve to further the Russian agenda locally and globally. Censorship is extremely common.

In 2004, Reporters without Borders, ranked Russia in the 140th place among 167 countries with

regard to press freedom (Dmitry L., Strovsky, pg. 128), and recent reports have yielded similar

results. This has led to many cases of censorship of news sources that are critical of the

government. The extent of this issue is such that, the overwhelming majority of outlets (about

75 per cent of the total number in Russia) are controlled by the authorities, similarly to the

historical tradition that originated in the early 18 century and continued under the Soviets

(Dmitry L., Strovsky, pg. 130). The control of media in Russia goes back over 300 years and is
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unlikely to change for the better under President Putin. The problem is very severe such that, In

Russia, independent investigative journalists, citizen activists and opposition politicians often

face harassment, threats and physical violence, and in the most tragic cases have been murdered

(Aro 127). Some would even argue that media control is stricter under Putin than it was during

the later years of the Cold War.

A continuing trend in the Russian attempt to subvert democracy has been interference in

elections -- and elections within Russia are certainly no exception to this rule. This became

particularly evident with Putin running as, The tendency of unbalanced information manifested

itself during all the election campaigns in Russia occurring in the 2000s during the one month

campaign on state owned television, in the Channel I primetime news, Putin received a total of

four hours coverage, while his main opponent with the most time, Communist candidate Nikolai

Kharitonov, received only about 21 minutes (Dmitry L., Strovsky pg. 143). This disparity in

coverage shows a clear bias from the state controlled media towards Putin who was president

from 2000- 2008 and from 2012 to the present day, serving as Prime minister in between and

increasing the term length from 4 to 6 years. It is clear Putin does not want to give up his control

of Russia and information warfare is just one way he will control the public to ensure this.

The Russian government admitted in the past that it would never be able to face the West

in a military conflict and come out victorious. This had led to efforts on their part to establish

dominance through information warfare and propaganda to sow confusion and animosity

between our allies and our own citizens while they annex countries while we are weak and

disorganized. I believe that a much stronger stance must be taken against this information war by

the free countries that stand to lose so much in the face of Russian aggression and subversion.

Efforts must be made on the part of the government to increase democracy based broadcasting
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that counters the mass of lies put out by Russian propaganda sources. Governments must also

recognize attempts to censor their journalists and help to protect those who search for the truth,

as well as work with social media sites to remove dangerous sources of disinformation. Freedom

of speech in the wrong hands can be extremely dangerous when lies are spread, and while we

must be careful to protect this right we must also realize that these attacks on those who seek the

truth constitute an attack on this treasured freedom as well. Many large social media companies

must take stronger action against these propagandists as they are their largest enablers. As

Jessica Aro puts it, Twitter is almost as passive as Facebook: it lets pro-Kremlin bots and fake

profiels operate quite freelyeven though fake identities and the use of Twitter for illegal

activities are forbidden both companies are US-based and probably find it difficult to check

the authenticity of suspected trolls, but this effort has to be made for the sake of freedom of

speech and information peace (Aro 129). The war on information is being waged every day, and

we must fight back or be crushed in a tide of oppression and censorship.

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Dear Sarah Haak,

For me this essay was most definitely the easiest because I could choose a topic that was

very interesting, and I could choose my own sources which helped immensely. It was easy

getting started with the research because I immediately found a plethora of good sources and in

fact it was hard to narrow down the sources I was going to use, I had at least 20 but narrowed it

down to 9 for the final essay. Getting started on my draft was harder than the research but easier

than it had been on the previous essays. I feel like it was more rushed without us doing a 50%

draft and instead going right to the 80% draft, I definitely procrastinated on this and wrote 2/3 of

that 80% draft 2 hours before it was due on blackboard and submitted it with 10 minutes to

spare. I didnt find the peer review particularly helpful and instead relied on a good friend of

mine to review my essay and she said the draft was much better than my previous essays. I knew

what I wanted my three perspectives to be from the beginning, but I was unsure how I was going

to structure the paragraphs under each of those perspectives, so I went back through my research

and looked at what my strongest points were. I had trouble with my end claim/conclusion

paragraph and ended up rewriting it several times. I did this with a lot of the essay as I found it

hard to find time when I could think clearly and state what I really wanted to say in a way that

made sense. Overall though I am mostly pleased with how my essay turned out though I wish I

could have tweaked it a little bit more and expanded it beyond 2100 words.

Sincerely, Jon Hopkins

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Work Cited

Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections. 2017. ICA: 2017-01D.

Aro, Jessikka. "The Cyberspace War: Propaganda and Trolling as Warfare Tools." European

View, vol. 15, no. 1, June 2016, pp. 121-132.

Bertrand, Natasha. Russia Organized 2 Sides of a Texas Protest and Encouraged 'Both Sides to

Battle in the Streets'. Business Insider, Business Insider, 1 Nov. 2017,

www.businessinsider.com/russia-trolls-senate-intelligence-committee-hearing-2017-11.

Chen, Adrian. The Agency. The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 June 2015,

www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html.

Chivvis, Christopher S. "Hybrid War: Russian Contemporary Political Warfare." Bulletin of the

Atomic Scientists, vol. 73, no. 5, Sept. 2017, pp. 316-321.

Confronting Russia's Weaponization of Information : Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign

Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, First Session

April 15, 2015.

Dmitry L., Strovsky. "The Media as a Tool for Creating Political Subordination in President

Putins Russia." Styles of Communication, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 128-149 (2015), no. 1, 2015,

p. 128.

ShareAmerica. Trolls: Everything You Wanted to Know. ShareAmerica, 27 May 2016,

share.america.gov/trolls-everything-you-wanted-to-know/.

Vainys, Andrius. "Rusijos Propagandos Praktika Daro tak Teoriniam Komunikacijos

Modeliui." ["RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA PRACTICE AFFECTS THE THEORETICAL

MODEL OF COMMUNICATION"]. Informacijos Mokslai / Information Sciences, vol.

76, July 2016, pp. 7-25.