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

Transcription

1 Sowing the Seeds of Skepticism: Russian State News and anti- GMO Sentiment Shawn F. Dorius, PhD Loomis Lecture Wednesday, May 9, 2018

2 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

3 Changes in US public opinion regarding GMOs Large increase in the perceived danger of GM crops.

4 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

5 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 in ways that agree with survey data Behavior response that matches change in public opinion

6 Change in public interest in GMOs An approximate doubling of search interest between What events produced a new baseline of interest in GMOs? Feb 2012-May 2013

7 Key events between Feb 2012-May 2013

8 Internet searches about GMOs GMO internet searches

9 What do people search about GMOs? Do these searches suggest a public that perceives GM to be dangerous?

10 What do people search about Monsanto? Do these searches suggest a public that perceives Monsanto to be dangerous?

11 Internet search behavior and public opinion about GMOs

12 The GMO information network Corporate Propaganda Government Reports Conventional News GMO Information Network Disinformation cluster Scientific publications Activist & Conspiracy Sites Social Media

13 The GMO (dis)information network on Facebook & Twitter Snapshot of GMO info network: May 2016-March 2018 Top 20 most shared\tweeted articles Network structure is a classic echo chamber

14 What kind of GMO content is being disseminated in this network? Article Titles Source Tweets Facebook Shares While You Were Distracted by BREXIT and TRUMP, Monsanto s Senate Puppets Push Through Bill to OUTLAW GMO Labeling anonews.com Chemtrails Killing Organic Crops, Monsanto s GMO Seeds Thrive geoengineeringwatch.org Mainstream Media Just Admitted Biotech Company Has Exclusive Patents on GMO Cannabis thefreethoughtproject.com Mexico continues to outlaw Monsanto's GMO corn naturalnews.com Google Caught Releasing 20 Million GMO Mosquitos In California yournewswire.com Starbucks Caught Covering Up $100 Million GMO Deal With Monsanto yournewswire.com Putin Vows To Feed Half The World With Non-GMO Organic Food yournewswire.com USDA Approves 2 New Types Of GMO Potatoes infowars.com GMO Babies Are Here infowars.com Why Is The Deadstream Media Ignoring These GMO Studies? activepost.com The Dangers of GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com Regulatory Loophole Allows GMO Products To Be Marketed As Non-GMO infowars.com Weakened GMO Labeling Bill Signed into Law infowars.com GMO "safety" has been systematically and deliberately falsified naturalnews.com Pro-GMO Bill Gates: Biological Terror Worse Than Nukes infowars.com Unauthorized GMO Wheat Found In Washington State infowars.com FDA Approves GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com Leading Scientist Exposes Deadly GMO Secrets infowars.com Why You Should Really Think Twice About Eating GMO Corn infowars.com Farmers awarded $218m in Syngenta GMO corn lawsuit hangthebankers.com 44 71

15 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%). Article Titles Source Tweets Facebook Shares While You Were Distracted by BREXIT and TRUMP, Monsanto s Senate Puppets Push Through Bill to OUTLAW GMO Labeling anonews.com Chemtrails Killing Organic Crops, Monsanto s GMO Seeds Thrive geoengineeringwatch.org Mainstream Media Just Admitted Biotech Company Has Exclusive Patents on GMO Cannabis thefreethoughtproject.com Mexico continues to outlaw Monsanto's GMO corn naturalnews.com Google Caught Releasing 20 Million GMO Mosquitos In California yournewswire.com Starbucks Caught Covering Up $100 Million GMO Deal With Monsanto yournewswire.com Putin Vows To Feed Half The World With Non-GMO Organic Food yournewswire.com USDA Approves 2 New Types Of GMO Potatoes infowars.com GMO Babies Are Here infowars.com Why Is The Deadstream Media Ignoring These GMO Studies? activepost.com The Dangers of GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com Regulatory Loophole Allows GMO Products To Be Marketed As Non-GMO infowars.com Weakened GMO Labeling Bill Signed into Law infowars.com GMO "safety" has been systematically and deliberately falsified naturalnews.com Pro-GMO Bill Gates: Biological Terror Worse Than Nukes infowars.com Unauthorized GMO Wheat Found In Washington State infowars.com FDA Approves GMO Mosquitoes infowars.com Leading Scientist Exposes Deadly GMO Secrets infowars.com Why You Should Really Think Twice About Eating GMO Corn infowars.com Farmers awarded $218m in Syngenta GMO corn lawsuit hangthebankers.com 44 71

16 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?

17 Russian state news and anti-gmo sentiment Dorius & 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?

18 Russian state news and anti-gmo sentiment

19 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

20 Most viewed and liked RT videos Referenced in 27/50 titles

21 Most frequent words in RT YouTube metadata RT Al Jazeera CNN

22 Russian accounts retweet anti-gmo propaganda

23 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 law Hundreds Of GMO Studies BUSTED By Discovery Of Major Conflicts Of Interest I'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 #organic New 90-Day Rat Study Destroys Corporate GMO Propaganda Monsanto donated $1M - $5M to Clinton Foundation! Spread it so libs know!

24 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)

25 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

26 Concluding remarks 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 Corporate Propaganda that GM crops are dangerous to people, communities, and the natural world 3. Russia exploits these factors in its disinformation campaign in the US Government Reports Scientific publications GMO Information Network Conventional News Activist & Conspiracy Sites 4. Conspiracy theories and fake news are the canopy. Bad public policy & Social Media corporate malfeasance are the tent poles (factual foundation) Russian Propaganda

27 The cycle of GMO disinformation revisited Russia Blamed For Anti-GMO Campaign and Pushing American Gun Rights Russia didn t so much hack our democracy as they infiltrated and enlarged our propaganda networks