America Is Losing the Information War

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Things feel surreal all the time now. We’re told that some of our favorite online personalities may just be sock puppet accounts for foreing governments. Russia, in particular, is supposedly a master at the new soft power internet based information warfare. Some people still believe that Trump is a Russian agent, the end result of a longcon forged years ago by the KGB and ushered into power by Russian trolls. Qanon, anti-vaxers, ant-maskers, shitposts, and doing it for the lulz. It can be exhausting. But understanding the myths of the modern age and how they permeate online is a key to understanding our world today.

Here to help us figure this all out is Nina Janckowicz. Janckowicz studies the intersection of democracy and technology in Central and Eastern Europe as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in DC. She’s also the author of How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict. She’s also … a huge musical theater fan.

Recorded 10/8/20
A brief digression into musical theater
What is an information war anyway?
Russia and active measures
Why Russia is better at it than America
Ukraine and the human cost
Poland and the dangers of building a government on conspiracy
Allowing RT on American soil
The responsibility of Twitter and Facebook
Finishing up with a little Sondheim

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love this podcast support this show through the a cast supporter feature
0:05.1	It's up to you how much you give and there's no regular commitment. Just click the link in the show description to support now. There are two big misconceptions about disinformation, particularly of the Russian variety.
0:22.0	One is that everybody thinks it's cut and dry fake news,
0:24.9	that it's just like silly photoshops and made up news stories.
0:28.7	How could that possibly, you know, affect our behavior?
0:31.8	The fact is that stuff doesn't do very well. The most
0:34.4	engaging content is the emotional stuff, the most enraging stuff. And it's built
0:40.0	on real-world grievances, real- world emotions that people already have expressed
0:44.7	those hot button issues in society that Russia hones in on.
0:48.6	And then the second thing that you said absolutely is right, which is that Russia is not rooting for one political side or
0:57.2	another Russia is rooting for distrust in the democratic system
1:01.4	disengagement, dismay, and discord.
1:05.0	They're also unknown, unknowns, the ones we don't know, we don't know. One day all of the facts in about 30 years time will be published.
1:27.0	When genocide has been carried out in this country almost with infinity and when it is near completely,
1:40.0	people talk about intervention.
1:54.0	They will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before. Hello? Hello, and we're welcome to Angry Planet. I'm Matthew Gault. And I'm Jason Fields.
2:09.0	Things feel surreal all the time now.
2:12.0	We're told that some of our favorite online personalities may just be sock puppet accounts for foreign governments.
2:17.0	Russia, in particular, is supposedly a master at the new soft power of internet-based information warfare.
2:23.0	Some people still believe that Trump is a Russian agent, the end result of a long con forged years ago by the KGB,
2:30.0	ushered into power by Russian trolls.
2:32.0	Kewenon, anti-vaxers, anti-maskers, shit posts,
	...

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