Beyond Orchestration: A Practice-Based Study of State-Linked Disinformation on Social Media

Abstract

Social media provides opportunities that can be exploited strategically for malicious purposes, including dissemination of disinformation. However, the participatory architecture of social media may complexify the propagation dynamics of strategic disinformation, involving different actors with different agendas. This dissertation argues that understanding the social media propagation of state-linked disinformation requires moving beyond an exclusive focus on top-down orchestration toward a more comprehensive view that includes the active participation of social media users. Drawing on practice theory and conceptualizations of disinformation as participatory and networked, this dissertation aims to further our understanding of the social media propagation of disinformation originating from Russian state-affiliated and aligned media, focusing on both orchestrated and organic platform activities. The dissertation uses quantitative and qualitative online and social media data, combining descriptive analysis and thematic content analysis to gain insights into how and why English-language news articles containing false or misleading claims propagated on social media between 2015-2022. The findings suggest that while the propagation of disinformation could not be attributed to orchestrated or organic activities alone, ordinary platform users played an important role as propagators, suggesting that a sole focus on orchestrated activity would greatly underestimate the scope o disinformation circulating on the platforms. Bots also played a central role in spreading disinformation, however, bot-driven disinformation was remarkably unsuccessful in engaging social media users, highlighting that prevalence of disinformation should not necessarily be equated with reach. The findings further show that although the organic bottom-up propagation of disinformation was multifaceted and governed by different purposes, emotions, and understandings, much of this activity was politically oriented, often characterized by opposition, distrust and discontent. This dissertation advances a practice-based understanding of the social media propagation of state-linked disinformation beyond orchestrated activities, and contributes novel empirical evidence demonstrating how disinformation originating from Russian state-linked media plays out in practice on social media.