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Creating Chaos Online
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Creating Chaos Online
Disinformation and Subverted Post- Publics
Asta Zelenkauskaitė
University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
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Copyright © 2022 by Asta Zelenkauskaitė
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Published in the United States of America by the
University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid- free paper
First published September 2022
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication data has been applied for.
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 07552- 2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 05552- 4 (paper : alk. paper)
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 90290- 3 (OA)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12237294
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022939744
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To Živilė, Jūratė, and Danutė
With love
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Contents
Introduction. A Déjà Vu from the Silenced Generation 1
Disinformation 3
Soviet Propaganda in the Eyes of a Child 9
Vulnerabilities of Social Media 17
Trolling and Russian Trolling 23
Russian Trolling Circulation 30
Chapter 1. Propagandistic Masquerade 38
Text as a Mask 39
Paradoxes of a Mask 40
Subversiveness of a Mask 46
Performativity and Modus Operandi of a
Propagandist Mask: self-sabotage 56
Multiple Faces for the Masks: Commenting
User Typology 64
Discussion 75
Summary 79
Chapter 2. Divide and Conquer: Exploiting Political Polarization 81
Frameworks of Information Persuasion 84
Communication Persuasion Models 85
Mechanics of Propaganda 87
Communicative Tactics: Attack, Defense,
and Whataboutism 99
Tactics Used in Online News Comments 102
Discussion 119
Summary 121
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viii Contents
Chapter 3. Instilling Mistrust in Institutions 127
Living in Media 129
Comments as Forms of News Deliberations 136
News Portals Comments as Information Warfare Zones 139
Contexts That Situate Online Public Deliberation 143
Discrediting Media as an Institution 146
Attack on Government Institutions 154
Discussion 157
Summary 162
Chapter 4. Roots of Russia’s Victim’s Playing 171
New Media and Information Warfare in
Authoritarian Regimes 173
Roots of Russia’s (Information) Warfare 177
Information Warfare in Action by Russia 186
Victim- Playing Russian Trolls in the News Comments 195
Delegitimization Rhetoric 202
Summary 218
Chapter 5. Deny and Conquer: Fears of Looking Like a
“Pussy State” 220
Implications of the Denialism Discourse regarding
Russian Trolling 221
Psychology of Denialism 227
Denial and Conspiracy Theories 231
Denial Normalization Traps to Avoid 234
Discussion 245
Summary 249
Epilogue: Now What? 255
Imperviousness to Chaos 255
What Solutions Are There for Russian Trolling? 260
Web as a Zero Institution 265
Appendix 267
Bibliography 271
Index 295
Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform
via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12237294
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Introduction
A Déjà Vu from the Silenced Generation
“Denial, a psychological defense mechanism, is an unconscious
mental maneuver that cancels out or obscures painful reality. . . .
We do not need to confront or change things that do not exist”
(Milburn, 1998, p. 1)
Denial describes information operations that allow for the achieving of stra-
tegic goals. This book is set to expose efforts to justify Russian trolling. Spe-
cifically, this book documents patterns and frames of systematic denialism
used to justify Russian trolling that circulated in two unrelated contexts and
periods of time. This book not only uncovers justification arguments and
the way they are constructed but also provides explanations of their origins
and what led them to become so pervasive online. Furthermore, through
the concept of post- publics, this book exemplifies how the public spheres
are disrupted by employing discursive means of denialism, despite rational
evidence grounded in facts.
I am compelled to examine the characteristics of Russian trolling across
online platforms for a range of reasons. Russian trolling has been exposed
as an ideological weapon employed to manipulate public opinion aided by
disinformation (Berghel & Berleant, 2018). Manipulation was found to be
adopting tactics typical for astroturfing trolling such as disruption and dis-
trust (Berghel & Berleant, 2018), and deflection of attention to irrelevant
issues (Zelenkauskaite & Niezgoda, 2017), thus creating chaos online.
This book is further driven by questions such as, What makes it so dif-
ficult to render Russian trolling visible despite unequivocal evidence? How
does the justification of Russian trolling interference challenge democratic
