Influence Operations and Disinformation on Social Media Samantha Bradshaw
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mid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, foreign state actors have been spreading disinformation on social media about the disease and the virus that causes it (Bright et al. 2020; Molter 2020). Covering a variety of topics — from its origin to potential cures, or its impact on Western societies — the creation and dissemination of COVID-19 disinformation online has become widespread. States — such as Russia and China — have taken to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to create and amplify conspiratorial content designed to undermine trust in health officials and government administrators, which could ultimately worsen the impact of the virus in Western societies (Barnes and Sanger 2020).
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