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Concept
Internet manipulation
Summary
Internet manipulation refers to the co-optation of digital technology, such as social media algorithms and automated scripts, for commercial, social, or political purposes. Such tactics may be employed with the explicit intent to manipulate public opinion, polarise citizens, silence political dissidents, harm corporate or political adversaries and improve personal or brand reputation. Hackers, hired professionals and private citizens have all been reported to engage in internet manipulation using software - typically Internet bots such as social bots, votebots and clickbots.
Cognitive hacking refers to a cyberattack that aims to change users' perceptions and corresponding behaviors.
Internet manipulation is sometimes also used to describe selective Internet censorship or violations of net neutrality.
Behavior Manipulation: Fake news, disinformation, and AI can secretly affect behavior. This is a different issue from affecting cognitive beliefs, as this can operate outside of awareness, making it harder to detect.
High-arousal emotion virality: It has been found that content that evokes high-arousal emotions (e.g. awe, anger, anxiety or with hidden sexual meaning) is more viral and that content that holds one or many of these elements: surprising, interesting, or useful is taken into consideration.
Simplicity over complexity: Providing and perpetuating simple explanations for complex circumstances may be used for online manipulation. Often such are easier to believe, come in advance of any adequate investigations and have a higher virality than any complex, nuanced explanations and information. (See also: Low-information rationality)
Peer-influence: Prior collective ratings of an web content influences ones own perception of it. In 2015 it was shown that the perceived beauty of a piece of artwork in an online context varies with external influence as confederate ratings were manipulated by opinion and credibility for participants of an experiment who were asked to evaluate a piece of artwork.
Official source
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