Media manipulation
Techniques in which partisans create an image that favours their interests
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Media Manipulation
Media manipulation refers to orchestrated campaigns in which actors exploit the distinctive features of broadcasting mass communications or digital media platforms. The goal of this is to mislead, misinform, or create a narrative that advances their interests and agendas.[1][2][3] media manipulation occurs everyday in current media, but has a long history that has evolved to take its current form.
In practice, media manipulation tactics may include the use of rhetorical strategies, including logical fallacies, deceptive content like disinformation, and propaganda techniques, and often involve the suppression of information or points of view by crowding them out, by inducing other people or groups of people to stop listening to certain arguments, or by simply diverting attention elsewhere. In Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacques Ellul writes that public opinion can only express itself through channels which are provided by the mass media of communication, without which there could be no propaganda.[4]
Historical Background
Although media manipulation is a term that occurs when discussing the internet and newer media forms, it has quite a history. It is important to understand that since media dates back hundreds of years and has evolved throughout history, so has media manipulation itself.
An example of this is found in American history, usually taking space in early political media contexts. Historian Nietzel notes, '“from the very beginning, communication research was at least in part designed as an applied science, intended to deliver systematic knowledge that could be used for the business of government to the political authorities.” He also expands to write, Many of the approaches and techniques which seemed innovative and even revolutionary in the 1940s and early 1950s, promising a magic key to managing propaganda activities and controlling public opinion, became routine fields of work, and institutions like the USIA carried out much of this kind of research themselves.” (Nietzel, 2016, p. 66)"'(Anderson, 2021)[5]. Even the early 19th century Yellow Pages, is an example of how media has been manipulated in multiple forms throughout history, to help aid one side in pushing certain messages out.
Current Developments
Even in current research we are seeing, "Internet subcultures take advantage of the current media ecosystem to manipulate news frame, set agendas and propagate ideas," according to Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research and policy institute that released a publication titled Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online. The piece was written by Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis, and chapters covered topics such as who is manipulating the media, what motivates media manipulators and techniques that media manipulators use. "The media's dependence on social media, analytics, metrics, sensationalism, novelty over newsworthiness and clickbait makes them vulnerable to such media manipulation," the document's executive summary said. Research like Marwick and Lewis published helps society understand that even today media manipulation is evolving and helping push out certain agendas. This is why its important to teach ourselves what this may look like in today's media forms. [2]There are multiple context in which media manipulation occurs. This page highlights these contexts below and expands on these as well.
Contexts
In today's media forms, there multiple contexts where media manipulation is seen. Knowing these can better help all audiences be aware and alert to potential bias and media manipulation. The most popular of these contexts to understand are: Advertising, Hoaxing, Propagandizing, Psychological Warfare, and Public Relations.
Advertising
Advertising is a form of promotion that seeks to persuade a specific audience to purchase a good or service. As one of the first types of marketing, it aims to influence its target market to either buy, sell, or carry out a particular action.[6]
These advertisements are not only done by businesses but can also be done by other groups. Non-commercial advertisers are those who spend money on advertising in the hope of raising awareness for a cause or promoting specific ideas.[7]
Advertising has evolved throughout time, and companies and political organizations have figured out how to use advertisements to manipulate viewers to see a certain message pushed out. Researcher Adam Klein dives into this utilizing terms like "Counterfeit Narratives" to describe recent advertising techniques. Essentially using an advertisement to not sell a product but to sell a fact or idea. Theres also been an occurrence of websites, commercials and even gaming apps that consistently sell or push the same ads over and over again. This is to compel people to associate their interests and personal usage of websites, to whatever is being sold or shown. Apps and search engines are utilizing sites to continuously feed users the same sort of information through ads (Klein, 2012).[8]
Hoaxing
A hoax is something intended to deceive or defraud. Misleading public stunts, scientific frauds, false bomb threats and business scams are examples of hoaxes.[9] Hoaxes are a large way that media manipulation can take form. This can be in a subtle way, or a large pronounced way.
Using research from the International Communication Association (ICA) in 2018,[10] they expand on the fact that hoaxing is a form of media activism, but more-so "Deceptive Activism". Hoaxing occurs in media by utilizing big pronounced activism moves to provoke a reaction, but overall attention from journalists and the public as a whole. The ICA highlights that today when Hoaxes occur, people prefer speed over accuracy, overall highlighting that media manipulation occurring through hoaxes is possible due to journalists, and audiences' lack of attention, and research.
"The growing complexity of fake news production and dissemination is further exacerbated by the wide range of actors currently cementing the form into a ubiquitous mode of public discourse—propagandists, hoaxers, hackers, partisans, and activists." (ICA, 2018).[10]
Propagandizing
Propagandizing is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda is commonly created by governments, but some forms of mass communication created by other influential organizations can be considered propaganda. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the desired result in audience attitudes. While the term propaganda has justifiably acquired a strongly negative connotation by association with its most manipulative and jingoistic examples (e.g. Nazi propaganda used to justify the Holocaust), propaganda in its original sense was neutral, and could refer to uses that were generally benign or innocuous, such as public health recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to participate in a census or election, or messages encouraging persons to report crimes to the police, among others.[11]
Propaganda uses societal norms and myths that people hear and believe. Because people respond to, understand and remember more simple ideas, this is what is used to influence people's beliefs, attitudes and values.[12]
"People are turning to propaganda as a media epithet because it helps to express discomfort with media — and the "fake news" controversy is just one part of this discomfort," [13] wrote Caroline Jack in the Data & Society article, What's Propaganda Got To Do With It?
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare is a term used to denote actions taken by governments with the aim evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people.[14]
This tactic has been used in multiple wars throughout history. During World War II, the western Allies, expected that the Soviet Union would drop leaflets on the US and England. During the conflict with Iraq, American and English forces dropped leaflets, with many of the leaflets telling the people how to surrender. In the Korean War both sides would use loud speakers from the front lines.[15] In 2009 people in Israel in the Gaza war received text messages on their cell phones threatening them with rocket attacks. The Palestinian people were getting phone calls and leaflets warning them that they were going to drop rockets on them. These phone calls and leaflets were not always accurate.[16]
Public relations
Public relations is the management of the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public.[17]
Public relations in terms of media manipulation is important to understand and correlate. Public relations is much more complex than just releasing information from an organization to the public but now is an in depth process that is manipulated and shaped to fit a certain narrative. This can occur through third parties paying off media outlets to push a certain story or to flip something to make a person or organization look bad. This can pollute audiences' trust in articles and organizations as its hard to depict what is real and what isn't as what was intentionally pushed out publicly and what was twisted by journalists (Klein, 2012). [8]
Techniques
Means of influence include, but are not limited to, the methods outlined in Influence: Science and Practice, which include appealing to authority and making the person aware of the scarcity of an offer.[18] When attempting to understand media manipulation and how we allow this to happen, its easier to understand how often and easy it occurs through knowing the techniques most used for this. These techniques include: Deepfakes, Astroturfing, Clickbait, Information Laundering, Search Engine Marketing, Distraction, Voice Replication, Photo Manipulation, and Video Manipulation.
Deepfakes
Deepfakes are photos, videos, or audio that are changed or completely created using artificial intelligence to look and sound real.[19] Because they can be very convincing, it's often hard to tell them apart from real content. The word "deepfake" comes from "deep learning," the type of AI used, and "fake," meaning the content is not real.[20]
With the evolution of Artificial Intelligence, creating deepfakes has become easier than ever. In an article written by Marek Stosel, he expands on how accessable deepfakes are. It is a good and bad thing. It can make it easier for companies to market things, and spread awareness for situations without having to use real people. On the other hand, its creating mistrust and overall can be a method for defamation and fake videos and pictures of people that can be extremely damaging.
He goes on to say, "Therefore, deepfake should be regarded as a double-edged sword, which can have an ambivalent impact on society. On the one hand, it offers opportunities in the form of innovative applications that, with a responsible approach, can lead to positive transformations in various areas of social and economic life (Ciftci et al., 2024). On the other hand, deepfake raises concerns related to distrust and fear of its misuse (Bitton et al., 2024). However, it is important to find a consensus between targeted use and intentional misuse. Clear regulations must be established to protect society from potential threats" (Stosel, 2025). [21]
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is when there is an intent and attempt to create the illusion of support for a particular cause, person, or stance. While this is mainly connected to and seen on the internet, it has also happened in newspapers during times of political elections.[22]Corporations and political parties try to imitate grassroots movements in order to sway the public into believing something that is not true.[23]
In a study done by Tasente and Popescu in 2025, they introduce the idea of "Fake Majority". [24]This expands on the way that corporations and political parties not only create the illusion of a large support for a cause but also silence those who disagree, because if they see they are part of the minority they are more likely to stay silent. As human beings it is natural that people want to belong, and by making something seem extremely supported and part of the majority, it encourages others to follow the lead, even if this is just a manipulation tactic. Overall this affects peoples trust for statistics and inforation published towards certain stances and causes. Now people are more likely to be skeptical rather than follow their own opinion and judgement (Tasente and Popescu, 2025). [24]
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Clickbait
Clickbait refers to headlines of online news articles that are sensationalized or sometimes wholly fake. It uses people's natural curiosity to get people to click. In some cases, clickbait is used to generate income; more clicks mean more money is made with advertisers.[25] But these headlines and articles can also be used to influence a group of people on social media. In some cases, they are constructed to appeal to the interest group's pre-existing biases and thus to be shared within filter bubbles.[26]
A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that respondents enjoyed the convenience, speed and "element of social interaction,'' with news they receive from social media. But there was a increase, from 31 percent to 40 percent, in the percentage of respondents who expressed concerns about inaccuracies, low quality, and politically biased information on social media, according to an article about the survey titled, What Americans Like and Dislike About Getting News on Social Media.[27]
Information laundering
Information laundering is a method of using a less trusted or less popular platform to publish a story of dubious origin or veracity for the purposes of reporting on that report rather than the story itself. This technique serves to insulate the secondary, more established media from having to issue a retraction if the report is false. Generally, secondary reports will report that the original report is reporting without verifying or making the report themselves.[28]
In an study by Klein in 2012, he emphasizes that idea that information laundering isn't primarily about spreading false statements but about legitimization. [8]"Information laundering illustrates how the Internet’s unique properties allow subversive social movements to not only grow globally, but also to quietly legitimize their causes through a borrowed network of associations." He goes on further to say, "The parameters of what is considered ‘‘trusted information’’ have widened in the virtual world, primarily because the drivers of that content are an anonymous and unrestricted public that are far less scrupulous about the kinds of the facts they publish. Principally, one might argue that despite the false perceptions of what is believed to be trusted information in cyberspace, true knowledge is what really matters in any medium" (Klein, 2012). [8]
Search engine marketing
In search engine marketing, websites use market research from past searches and other sources to increase their visibility in search engine results pages. This allows them to guide search results along the lines they desire, thereby influencing searchers.[29]
Businesses have many tactics to entice customers to their websites to generate revenue, such as banner ads, search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing tools. They all serve different purposes and use different tools that appeal to multiple types of users. Banner ads appear on sites in an attempt to attract visitors to a linked website. Search engine optimization is a technique in which a website is optimized to receive a higher ranking from the search engine, causing it to be returned more often in searches.[30][31]
Distraction
Distraction by major events
Commonly known as "smoke screen", this technique consists of making the public focus its attention on a topic that is more convenient for the propagandist. This particular type of media manipulation has been referenced in popular culture. For example, the movie Wag the Dog (1997) illustrates how the public can be deceitfully distracted from an important topic by presenting another whose only quality is that of being more attractive.
Politicians might distract the public from domestic issues by diverting attention to global issues in order to reduce pressure domestically.[32]
Distracting the public
This is a variation of the traditional arguments known in logic as ad hominem and ad populum, but applied to countries instead of individuals. This technique consists of refuting arguments by appealing to nationalism or by inspiring fear and hate toward a foreign country or all foreigners. It has the potential to be important since it gives the propagandists the power to discredit any information coming from other countries.[33]
Straw man fallacy
An informal fallacy. The "straw man" consists of appearing to refute the opponent's argument while attacking another topic. For it to work correctly, the topic that was refuted and the one that should have been refuted need to be similar.
Voice replication
Voice replication is an artificially generated audio created by artificial intelligence (AI) to create a realistic replication of someone's voice. AI uses machine learning models and can replicate the specific characteristics of a target voice, such as pitch, tone, and cadence. It is commonly used to deceive and cause disruption.[34] This idea is similar to deepfakes, but only utilizes AI to change the voice or replicate someone's voice to make it say what the publisher wants the voice to say.
An example of this was noted in the research of Marek Stosel. He wrote, "'Owing to its advanced generative capabilities, it also enables the digital reincarnation of real historical figures who have significantly influenced the course of history. A representative example of the digital reincarnation of a historical figure is the project involving the digital synthesis of the voice of former President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy' (Cavedon-Taylor, 2024)" (Stosel, 2025). [35]
This shows that AI can be used to bring people back to life, or in general make people say what you want them to say, using their own voice. This again can create a large system of distrust in media as to what is really being said by people and what is being programmed using voice replication.
Video and Photo manipulation
Photo Manipulation
Visual media can be transformed through photo manipulation, commonly called "photoshopping." This can make a product, person, or idea seem more appealing. Specific product features are highlighted to attract and persuade the public, and specific editing tools are used to enhance the photo. Some techniques include cropping, resizing, airbrushing, color-enhancing, and removing or adding subjects from the original image. The motivation for photo manipulation may be for pure artistic creativity or more nefarious reasons to deceive. Photo manipulation is used extensively in the advertising and fashion industry and has been the subject of controversy for its part in false advertising and promoting unrealistic images of beauty.[36]
Photo Manipulation can be related to deepfakes as well. Though mainly associated with photoshopping and editing, it also falls under the umbrella of completely manipulating an image to the point of taking something original and making a deepfake based off of the original makeup of the image.
For both photoshopping and deepfakes, apps such as Snapchat, TikTok, and any AI website, allows for all with access to create a manipulated photo with whatever prompt they chose. As well as on apps like Peachy and Face tune, these help to shape, airbrush and edit any existing image to alter what people chose to change. It is seldom that any advertisement or mainstream commercial has been untouched by these popular app tools.
Video Manipulation
Video manipulation is a variant of media manipulation that targets digital video using a combination of traditional video processing and video editing techniques and auxiliary methods from artificial intelligence like face recognition. In typical video manipulation, the facial structure, body movements, and voice of the subject are replicated in order to create a fabricated recording of the subject. The applications of these methods range from educational videos to videos aimed at (mass) manipulation and propaganda, a straightforward extension of the long-standing possibilities of photo manipulation. This form of computer-generated misinformation has contributed to fake news, and there have been instances when this technology was used during political campaigns in an attempt to influence the outcome.[37]
Video manipulation is very similar to photo manipulation, as editing and AI usage plays the main role. In a study done by Kirchengast in 2020, he writes, "The technology is, however, more ubiquitous than some may realise. We all have on our smart phones a mode of artificial intelligence that tags photos to identify persons in individual images. Apps such as Snapchat, available via smart device, now commonly allow for image manipulation, with superimposed emojis or the ability to swap faces of persons in a photo, for fun and entertainment" [38]as well as, "Such videos can either be left be, removed from social media by falling afoul of published community guidelines, or even criminalised as intentionally fraudulent and deceitful. Such videos tend to ambiguously fit within the deepfake space due to some limited manipulation of content, sometimes referred to as a ‘cheapfake’ because something other than the image of the person rep- resented in the video comes to be manipulated"[38] (Kirchengast, 2020).
Manipulation in Social Media
Social media has changed how manipulation works. In the past, major news outlets would twist information, but today's age anyone can use social media to spread misleading content which makes it harder to protect accurate information.[39]
Because news spreads faster online, reporters feel pressure to publish quickly, sometimes before checking facts. Whoever posts something first online regarding any form of information can influence how people view an event, even if the information is wrong.[40]
Cases like the 2016 "Pizzagate" conspiracy show how false claims online can lead to real-world harm. Pizzagate was a large conspiracy theory targeting democratic official in saying they were running a child sex trafficking ring out a pizza shop in Washington D.C. This occurred in 2016 and although this dates back over a decade, it is still relevant when connecting to media manipulation. Right wing political followers utilized manipulation tactics like emotional manipulation in order to reel people in and take advantage of their concern. In a study done by Paul Bleakley in 2023, he further expands on this idea highlighting information laundering and overall extremist techniques to create a manipulative movement for the masses. [41]
Social media algorithms also make the problem worse by pushing exciting or emotional posts, which helps misinformation spread quickly and repeatedly within like-minded groups[42]
Conclusion
In conclusion, Media manipulation has taken many forms as technology and human minds have evolved. What started out as a smaller less obvious way to pull political support in the early 19th century, to now using social media to convince users someone has come back from the dead, media manipulation has grown into a large tool for false information. Understanding the contexts discussed above such as; Advertising, Hoaxing, Propagandizing, Psychological Warfare, and Public Relations, we can be better educated in this matter. Furthermore, the ability to identify the techniques used to manipulate such as; Deepfakes, Astroturfing, Clickbait, Information Laundering, Search Engine Marketing, Distraction, Voice Replication, Photo Manipulation, and Video Manipulation, can ultimately help identify manipulation as well. Overall media manipulation occurs everyday, and by being aware of this and its affects, all of society can grow their media literacy, and worldly awareness.
