sowing the seeds of skepticism: russian state news and...

Department of Sociology

Sowing the Seeds of Skepticism: Russian State News and anti-GMO Sentiment

Shawn F. Dorius, PhDLoomis Lecture

Wednesday, May 9, 2018


Key findings from today’s presentation

1. Belief that GM crops are dangerous is on the rise in the US

2. Concrete, identifiable events provide the factual basis for this rise

3. Russian operatives leverage disinformation networks on social media to amplify existing anti-GMO messages

4. Russian state news produces large amount of original, anti-GMO content


Large increase in the perceived danger of GM crops.

Changes in US public opinion regarding GMOs


Why did public opinion change?

Publics or people?

• Some compositional change• Immigration, cohort

replacement• Increase observed in virtually

every demographic:• age, race, sex, political

ideology, residency, education, income, etc.

• Suggests public was exposed to period-specific events

• Marches and protests, legal decisions, propaganda campaigns

Who changed the most?

• Young to middle age (30-55)

• Urban• Parents• Female• Liberal political ideology


Using internet search data to detect causes of changes in GMO opinions

• Internet and social media expansive information networks

• Archived digital data study historical events and information diffusion

• Use internet search data to see if interest in GMOs changed over the 2000-2016 in ways that agree with survey data

• Behavior response that matches change in public opinion


2010 2016

Feb 2012-May 2013

Change in public interest in GMOs

2000

What events produced a new baseline of interest in GMOs?

An approximate doubling of search interest between 2011-2013


Key events between Feb 2012-May 2013


Internet searches about GMOs

2004

-0120

04-11

2005

-0920

06-07

2007

-0520

08-03

2009

-0120

09-11

2010

-0920

11-07

2012

-0520

13-03

2014

-0120

14-11

2015

-0920

16-07

2017

-0520

18-03

GMO internet searches


What do people search about GMOs?

Do these searches suggest a public that perceives GM to be dangerous?


What do people search about Monsanto?

Do these searches suggest a public that perceives Monsanto to be dangerous?


Internet search behavior and public opinion about GMOs


The GMO information network

GMO Information

Network

Corporate Propaganda

Government Reports

Activist & Conspiracy

Sites

Social Media

Scientific publications

Conventional News

Disinformationcluster


The GMO (dis)information network on Facebook & Twitter

Snapshot of GMO info network: May 2016-March 2018Top 20 most shared\tweeted articlesNetwork structure is a classic echo chamber


Article Titles Source TweetsFacebook Shares

While You Were Distracted by BREXIT and TRUMP, Monsanto’s Senate Puppets Push Through Bill to OUTLAW GMO Labeling anonews.com 93 30679Chemtrails Killing Organic Crops, Monsanto’s GMO Seeds Thrive geoengineeringwatch.org 197 18692

Mainstream Media Just Admitted Biotech Company Has Exclusive Patents on GMO Cannabis thefreethoughtproject.com 129 6809Mexico continues to outlaw Monsanto's GMO corn naturalnews.com 76 5030Google Caught Releasing 20 Million GMO Mosquitos In California yournewswire.com 75 3651Starbucks Caught Covering Up $100 Million GMO Deal With Monsanto yournewswire.com 151 3553Putin Vows To Feed Half The World With Non-GMO Organic Food yournewswire.com 54 2365

USDA Approves 2 New Types Of GMO Potatoes infowars.com 186 1751GMO Babies Are Here infowars.com 101 1564Why Is The Deadstream Media Ignoring These GMO Studies? activepost.com 109 1162The Dangers of GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com 133 1048Regulatory Loophole Allows GMO Products To Be Marketed As Non-GMO infowars.com 129 948Weakened GMO Labeling Bill Signed into Law infowars.com 162 805GMO "safety" has been systematically and deliberately falsified naturalnews.com 49 340Pro-GMO Bill Gates: Biological Terror Worse Than Nukes infowars.com 122 220Unauthorized GMO Wheat Found In Washington State infowars.com 137 135FDA Approves GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com 141 99Leading Scientist Exposes Deadly GMO Secrets infowars.com 244 90Why You Should Really Think Twice About Eating GMO Corn infowars.com 41 81Farmers awarded $218m in Syngenta GMO corn lawsuit hangthebankers.com 44 71

What kind of GMO content is being disseminated in this network?


Article Titles Source TweetsFacebook Shares

While You Were Distracted by BREXIT and TRUMP, Monsanto’s Senate Puppets Push Through Bill to OUTLAW GMO Labeling anonews.com 93 30679Chemtrails Killing Organic Crops, Monsanto’s GMO Seeds Thrive geoengineeringwatch.org 197 18692

Mainstream Media Just Admitted Biotech Company Has Exclusive Patents on GMO Cannabis thefreethoughtproject.com 129 6809Mexico continues to outlaw Monsanto's GMO corn naturalnews.com 76 5030Google Caught Releasing 20 Million GMO Mosquitos In California yournewswire.com 75 3651Starbucks Caught Covering Up $100 Million GMO Deal With Monsanto yournewswire.com 151 3553Putin Vows To Feed Half The World With Non-GMO Organic Food yournewswire.com 54 2365

USDA Approves 2 New Types Of GMO Potatoes infowars.com 186 1751GMO Babies Are Here infowars.com 101 1564Why Is The Deadstream Media Ignoring These GMO Studies? activepost.com 109 1162The Dangers of GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com 133 1048Regulatory Loophole Allows GMO Products To Be Marketed As Non-GMO infowars.com 129 948Weakened GMO Labeling Bill Signed into Law infowars.com 162 805GMO "safety" has been systematically and deliberately falsified naturalnews.com 49 340Pro-GMO Bill Gates: Biological Terror Worse Than Nukes infowars.com 122 220Unauthorized GMO Wheat Found In Washington State infowars.com 137 135FDA Approves GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com 141 99Leading Scientist Exposes Deadly GMO Secrets infowars.com 244 90Why You Should Really Think Twice About Eating GMO Corn infowars.com 41 81Farmers awarded $218m in Syngenta GMO corn lawsuit hangthebankers.com 44 71

What kind of GMO content is being disseminated in this network?

Four of top six most shared GMO stories were about Monsanto. Nearly 60,000 shares (74%).


The Russian disinformation campaign

• Did Russia hack our democracy?• Sow division by magnifying divisive issues• Encourage protest• Raise doubts about US system of governance• Pro-Trump, anti-Hillary messaging

• Western intelligence reports have concluded that Russia engaged in a broad based disinformation campaign

• Did Russia have anything to do with changes in public opinion and behaviors concerning GMOs?


Russian state news and anti-GMO sentimentDorius & Lawrence-Dill (2018) collected all GMO news articles published from Jan-Dec 2016 from five US news sites and two Russian state news sites to answer three questions:1. When Russian state news discuss GMOs,

what do they talk about?2. When Russian state news discuss GMOs,

how do they talk about them?3. How do these patterns compare to the

discussion of GMOs in US news?


Russian state news and anti-GMO sentiment


How Russia uses YouTube

• RT (formerly Russia Today)• Content of GMO coverage is negative,

anti-corporatist, emotionally charge, promotes activism & protest

• Monsanto featured heavily • AJ and CNN

• Reporting more factual & informational, less emotional, current events driven

• Sentiment of coverage was slightly positive


Most viewed and liked RT videos

Referenced in 27/50 titles


Most frequent words in RT YouTube metadata

Al Jazeera CNNRT


Russian accounts retweet anti-GMO propaganda


Russian accounts retweet anti-GMO propaganda

Is the Senate about to put a halt to GMO labeling?Obama Signs Pro-GMO Monsanto Protection Act into lawHundreds Of GMO Studies BUSTED By Discovery Of Major Conflicts Of InterestI'm not sure why my Alt-Right buddies still eat #GMO like wake up to clean food, not that difficult. Mexico continues to outlaw Monsanto GMO corn #Monsanto #GMO #Mexico #organicNew 90-Day Rat Study Destroys Corporate GMO PropagandaMonsanto donated $1M - $5M to Clinton Foundation! Spread it so libs know!


Who Russia retweets

News site Facebook followers Type of news outlet Russian retweets (gmos)

Natural News 2,000,000 Propaganda 207 (2)

Disclose TV 1,900,000 Propaganda 51 (0)

World Truth TV 1,700,000 Propaganda 350 (1)

InfoWars 613,000 Propaganda 213 (0)

Activist Post 540,000 Propaganda 326 (4)

Before It's News 400,000 Propaganda 399 (1)

Red Flag News 270,000 Propaganda 86 (0)

Daily Buzz Live 160,000 Propaganda 0 (0)


What effect has Russian propaganda had on public perceptions of GMOs?I used computational social science methods to identify likely causes of change in American attitudes toward GM crops.Data suggest that Russian efforts likely played a role, primarily because:

a. Russia infiltrated a large, well-developed, and trusted disinformation network (social media + ‘traditional’ media)b. A number of concrete events validate the rumor, innuendo, and patent falsehoods circulating in disinformation networks


GMO Information

Network

Corporate Propaganda

Government Reports

Activist & Conspiracy

Sites

Social Media

Scientific publications

Conventional News

Concluding remarks

Russian Propaganda

1. Public has real concerns about social, economic, and environmental implications of GM crops

2. Corporate action, regulatory policy, conspiracy theories, and digital technologies contribute to belief that GM crops are dangerous to people, communities, and the natural world

3. Russia exploits these factors in its disinformation campaign in the US

4. Conspiracy theories and fake news are the canopy. Bad public policy & corporate malfeasance are the tent poles (factual foundation)


The cycle of GMO disinformation revisited

“Russia Blamed For Anti-GMO Campaign and Pushing American Gun Rights”

https://www.activistpost.com/2018/03/russia-anti-gmo-gun-rights.html

Russia didn’t so much hack our

democracy as they infiltrated and enlarged our

propaganda networks

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