Case Studies

Using the Life Cycle of Media Manipulation, each case study features a chronological description of a media manipulation event, which is filtered along specific variables such as tactics, targets, mitigation, outcomes, and keywords.

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Keyword

Tactic

Target

Mitigation

Manipulator Adaptation

Network Terrain

Attribution

Outcome

Vulnerabilities

Strategy

Meme War: The GameStop Short Squeeze Campaign That Gamed the Financial Algorithm

What the media often referred to as the GameStop saga was actually a case study in media manipulation.

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Evidence collages

Keyword Squatting

Memes

Swarming

Viral sloganeering

Black boot stomping on a puddle of red liquid

Misidentification: Republic of Florida Hoax

On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 students and teachers. After fleeing the scene, Cruz was apprehended alive by police. Before being officially identified by law enforcement, speculation and false identifications of the shooter circulated online. During this period of confusion, a hoax targeting journalists led to a misidentification, naming Cruz as a member of a small white nationalist militia.

Evidence collages

Impersonation

Evidence Collage: Unite the Right Rally

In the aftermath of the deadly car attack during the Unite the Right Rally of August 2017, a misidentification of the driver, and subsequent doxing of an unrelated individual, muddied the waters before the actual suspect was apprehended and identified by police. By seeding social media with erroneous evidence collages, an innocent individual was subject to doxing and targeted harassment by far-right extremist operators organized on 4chan and 8chan.

Evidence collages