Guy next door and implausibly attractive young women: The visual frames of social media propaganda

Abstract

This study combines data analysis with multilevel processing of visual communication to classify the visual frames of state-sponsored social media propaganda. We relied on Twitter’s Election Integrity data to sample five propaganda targets of the Internet Research Agency, including Russian and American partisan groups, and explored how their operations deviated from canonical state propaganda marked by symbols of national identity and heroic masculinity. The results show that the visual frames employed by the Internet Research Agency are designed to embody the vox populi with relatable, familiar, or attractive faces of ordinary people. The results also indicate that Internet Research Agency influence operations displayed cultural acuity and familiarity with the social identity of their targets, and that the visual narrative the agency crafted trafficked primarily in the tropes of regular guys or attractive young women. We discuss these findings and argue that state-sponsored propaganda has attuned to subcultural and visual affordances of social platforms.

Forty Thousand Fake Twitter Profiles: A Computational Framework for the Visual Analysis of Social Media Propaganda

“…As gender identity is largely fluid and constructed, and ultimately influenced by intersectionality with race, class, and age (Cole, 2009;Crenshaw, 1997), it presents a formidable challenge for tools like the DeepFace, which often struggles with gender classification due to the dynamic nature of such identities, particularly for visuals that do not conform to the traditional gender binary or whose appearance has been altered by camera filters. This is in line with previous research that cautioned against gender classification based on facial structures without taking into account the contextual and social aspects of one's identity (Bastos et al, 2023). A more comprehensive model would analyze not just facial features, but also user-generated content like bios and self-reported names to portray the array of complex elements shaping one's gender identity on social platforms.…”

“…Previous research has charted how the visual strategies employed by the IRA displayed cultural insight and familiarity with the social identity of their targets by trafficking in the tropes of ordinary urban men and attractive young women. This body of work identified differences across campaign targets, with males more likely to appear in the BlackLivesMatter and Russian targeted groups, and females dominating the profile composition of Christians, Conservatives, and particularly Trump supporters (Bastos et al, 2023;Freelon et al, 2020). BlackLivesMatter activists and Christians were more likely to be depicted with high angles, whereas low angles prevailed among Trump supporters and Russian groups.…”

“…Visual propaganda is increasingly employed by state and non-state actors operating vast networks of fake accounts on social media. These actors meticulously manipulate user profile images to influence and engage culturally and politically entrenched audiences (Bastos et al, 2023). Previous research has expounded the profound impact of emotional and human-centric narratives on social media platforms, underscoring the effectiveness of strategies that exploit the vulnerability of human perceptions to biases (Seo, 2019), including racial prejudice promptly weaponized for political objectives (Freelon et al, 2020).…”

“…Selfies and self-portraits prevailed in the profiles of BlackLivesMatter activists and Conservatives, while Christians and Trump supporters were framed with regular close-ups. Amateur profile photos were frequent, except for Trump supporters and Christian profiles, which featured a higher incidence of professional profile photos featuring sensually crafted images of young women typical of soft advertisements employed by the cosmetic industry (Bastos et al, 2023).…”

“…As a social construct, gender encompasses the expected roles, behaviors, and activities assigned to individuals based on societal norms (Butler, 1999;West & Zimmerman, 1987). Gender norms guide the personalization strategies employed by real and fake social media profiles alike, with the visual representation of gender in profile images often reinforcing societal stereotypes whereby women are objectified and depicted in a sexualized manner (Bastos et al, 2023;Davis, 2018). Gender is thus a central dimension in the creation of fake profiles and the construction of digital identities (Muscanell & Guadagno, 2012;Toma & Hancock, 2012), with 'catfishing' epitomizing the centrality of such social constructs to craft persuasive and convincing personas that mimic real-life stories and engage in communication styles that adhere to stereotypical gender expectations.…”