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.
How the Milk Tea Alliance evolved from a meme war into a transnational network of young activists who use media manipulation and protest tactics to counter authoritarian actions worldwide.
In a critique of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal and corruption and censorship in Malaysia writ large, activist and artist Fahmi Reza posted a widely-circulated image of Najib as a clown on social media. Although the government arrested Fahmi in a bid to contain its proliferation, the meme nonetheless continued to gain traction, becoming a symbol of resistance that is still used to this day.
After Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described her experience during the Capitol insurrection onInstagram Live, critics used hashtags and misinfographics to invalidate her account, resulting in a harassment campaign followed by community mitigation.
In the final two weeks of the 2020 presidential election, Republican operatives spread a recontextualized video of candidate Joe Biden they took out of context from a larger interview.
They claimed it showed the candidate bragging about running the “biggest voter fraud organization this country has ever seen.” While this claim was quickly debunked, it was amplified by influencers and media personalities. It was also adopted by administration officials to sow distrust about election integrity, which furthered President Donald Trump’s voter fraud narrative and ultimately led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building.
