If you wanted to believe, there was an incredible amount of people claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, with everyone claiming that there was evidence everywhere.
None of the evidence turned out to be admissible in court, or stood up to scrutiny if you looked closely. But by the time people started to look, another theory, more "evidence", and people moved on. Coupled with an emotionally charged election and disappointment in results, this constant stream of false information poisoned millions of people. Even if people fought back against the misinformation, the faithful had been exposed to so much of this smoke that even if some of it turned out false, they were convinced that there really was a fire.
With so much misinformation about the election out there, it gave people who's voices had credibility cover to try and continue this narrative for their own gains, further increasing the amount of smoke. Few if any people suffered repercussions of any kind for continuing this machine.
Before the Internet, news came through print, TV, or the radio. The requirements to start a new news agency was very high, and so the profit motive of existing news agencies was based on reputation. This required accuracy in reporting, and if mistakes were made, there could be serious consequences to that companies bottom line as people could switch to a different established news agency.
Now, the barriers to starting a new news website or podcast are almost non-existent in comparison, to say nothing of social media in general. With a sudden increase in competition, this new flood of Internet news providers and their surge of popularity at the expense of traditional media news, the profit motive of news in general has changed as well. The new profit motive is now clicks onto webpages, and the most effective method to do so is not with accuracy, but with shock and awe.
When traditional media made a mistake, it required a retraction from the offending news agency. Failure to do so would allow for competing news agencies to look more reliable, drawing more subscribers and attracting more advertising revenue.
In today's Internet news age, retractions are not necessary as accidental or intentional misinformation can simply be deleted. It is extremely difficult at present to determine the accuracy and reliability of any source on the Internet. Stories can get published and deleted with very little in the way of consequences to reputation. And in this highly polarized world we currently live in, people tend to be more forgiving of mistakes if they are remembered at all. With the cycle and amount of content people put out, its too easy to establish and push narratives despite the fact that the stories that they are founded on have been found to be not true or simply were fabrications in the first place.
In short, people can choose whatever story they want to believe in regarding what's happening in the world today. And its entirely possible that the story they choose has almost nothing to do with reality.
This conspiracy theory applies the usage of cloud seeding technology to say that the US Government purposely seeded the Gulf of Mexico with hurricanes to hit high concentrations of Republican voters prior to the 2024 election.
Death threats to meteorologists [1]
This conspiracy theory states that the U.S. Government is purposely withholding relief aid and efforts from areas with strong Republican voter turnout.
This conspiracy theory states that FEMA funding has run out because it was used for the housing of migrants.
Money is appropriated to the Shelter and Services Program to provide funding for temporary housing for migrants. This funding is completely separate from FEMA's disaster relief funds. The disaster relief funds have not been depleted, but may not last through the entire hurricane season.
In the past, news and information was restricted to print media, TV, and radio. In these spaces, it was difficult for new outlets to show up and have the same impact as what we now call the "traditional media". Every media outlet had gatekeepers to ensure that the news that went out to the public was reliable.
The requirements for creating your own newscast, blog, social media influencer page, etc. has decreased dramatically and the number of places you can get news and information is now essentially infinite.
There are already articles highlighting how foreign countries may have already attempted or been successful at manipulating our elections by framing the news and presenting information (real and fake).
In order for any misinformation to have an effect, there has to be some presumption of trust from the source that any information is genuine. Normally, this would be done through news sources whose revenue was tied to their reputations, or from people you knew. However, trust in traditional news sources have fallen, revenue became dependent on clicks, and the Internet has allowed several new news sources to start giving people information. Social media and news sharing has also provided the ability to legitimize information through relatives and acquaintances. This situation has set the stage to make it easy to "launder" information, to make news look as legitimate as possible for a target population.
After the Cold War, the West was the dominant economic and military power. Russia was unable to stand up directly to the West like it once had. But as mentioned above, it has never been easier to directly influence the people of a foreign country.
Russia began attempting more sophisticated methods of targeting Americans during the 2016 presidential campaign. [1]
Attempts at impeaching President Biden in 2024 were largely based on testimony of an FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov. However, it was discovered that the story that Smirnov had told was a fabrication and that Smirnov was provided this story by Russian officials. [2]
In 2023, stories began circulating the Internet implicating high level officials, even President Zelenskyy, of using foreign aid intended to fight Russia to enrich themselves. In one such story, it was rumored that President Zelenskyy used funds to buy luxury yachts as a sort of getaway vehicle. This story never found its way past YouTube and social media and was debunked quickly afterwards. Instead of issuing retractions or clarifications, these outlets simply deleted their videos. This represents the dangers of getting information in the 21st Century, as any viewers who saw the initial videos and left with the impression of corruption in Ukraine may never be corrected.
However, it became bigger news when a US Congressperson retweeted this faked news story from a Russian-controlled media outlet. [3]
On September 4th, 2024, the Department of Justice charged two Russian nationals of funding an online content creation outlet in the US, known as Tenet Media using $10 million dollars that were funneled from various foreign sources. The Justice Department alleges that this company contracted existing US influencers to publish with themes consistent with Russian aims of destabilizing the United States. This scheme is part of a larger effort by RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, to create an "entire empire of covert projects" designed to shape public opinion in "Western audiences". [4}
On September 8th, 2024, the Department of Justice addressed the scope of the disinformation campaign by Russia targeting Americans through a campaign known as "Doppelganger". This operation used AI to generate news sites that impersonate legitimate news sites in order to spread disinformation. The operation also purchased social media ads and created fake social media personas to advertise these headlines to increase the chances of exposure. Another arm of this operation was to build a network of "independent" journalists and media outlets to spread Russian propaganda.[5]
European media outlets such as Reuters, Der Spiegel, Bild, Le Monde, Le Parisien, Welt, FAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Delfi and others were also being spoofed by this Russian operation. The goal of the operation was to drive a wedge between America and Europe and undermine any support for Ukraine.[6]
In addition to influencing Europe's relationship with America, Russian disinformation campaigns have attempted to directly influence the results of elections in a multitude of countries in the EU. The "Doppleganger" operation has been used in European elections to spread disinformation through social media under the guise of a legitimate news agency. In addition to the falsified news organizations, Russian agents are attempting to buy off influencers and politicians to spread pro-Russian messages.[7]