ANALYSIS BY
Renee DiResta, Dr. Kris Shaffer, Becky Ruppel, David Sullivan, Robert Matney, Ryan Fox (New Knowledge) Dr. Jonathan Albright (Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University) Ben Johnson (Canfield Research, LLC)
The Tactics & Tropes of the Internet Research Agency
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THE TACTICS & TROPES OF THE INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY
Table of Contents
Document Purpose and Overview .....................................................3Russian Interference Background and Context .........................................4Key Takeaways .....................................................................7Themes ..........................................................................11Summary Statistics: A Cross-Platform Operation ......................................14Organic Activities ..................................................................16IRA Tactics .......................................................................34Tactic: Targeting Americans .....................................................34Tactic: Asset Development .......................................................39Tactic: Cross-Platform Brand Building ............................................42Tactic: The Media Mirage ........................................................45Tactic: Memetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50Tactic: Inflecting a Common Message for Different Audiences (Syria) .................58Tactic: Narrative Repetition and Dispersal .........................................62Tactic: Repurposing and Re-Titling Pages and Brands ..............................63Tactic: Manipulating Journalism .................................................66Tactic: Amplify Conspiratorial Narratives ..........................................69Tactic: Sow Literal Division ......................................................71Tactic: Dismiss and Redirect .....................................................73Election 2016 .....................................................................76Ongoing Efforts ...................................................................96In Conclusion .....................................................................99
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THE TACTICS & TROPES OF THE INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY
Document Purpose and Overview
Upon request by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), New Knowledge reviewed an expansive data set of social media posts and metadata provided to SSCI by Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet, plus a set of related data from additional platforms. The data sets were provided by the three primary platforms to serve as evidence for an investigation into the Internet Research Agency (IRA) influence operations. The organic post content in this data set has never previously been seen by the public. Our
report quanties and contextualizes Internet Research Agency (IRA) influence operations targeting American citizens from 2014 through 2017, and articulates the signicance
of this long-running and broad influence operation. It includes an overview of Russian influence operations, a collection of summary statistics, and a set of key takeaways that are then discussed in detail later in the document. The document includes links to full data
visualizations, hosted online, that permit the reader to explore facets of the IRA-created
manipulation ecosystem.Finally, we share our concluding notes and recommendations. We also provide a comprehensive slide deck accommodating a wide array of selected images directly from the data set illustrating our observations, and, as an appendix, a comprehensive summary of relevant statistics related to the data set.
This publication and its conclusions are in part based on the analysis of social media content that the authors were provided by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under the auspices of the Committee’s Technical Advisory Group, whose members serve to provide substantive technical and expert advice on topics of importance to ongoing Committee activity and oversight. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions presented herein are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence or its Membership.