FitzGerald, K. M., Whelan-Shamy, D., & Graham, T. (2025). The persistence of informational manipulation and the appropriation of emerging events. Authoritarian Actors and Strategic Digital Information Operations, 65–85. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003628088-6
Summary
This paper investigates the temporal dynamics of coordinated informational manipulation, arguing that such campaigns are neither short-lived nor static. Instead, they persist over extended periods by adapting to and appropriating emerging events — latching onto new topics, crises, and news cycles to maintain relevance and sustain influence. The central reframing is to treat manipulation as a dynamic, opportunistic process rather than a discrete, bounded campaign, thereby drawing attention to the longevity and adaptive strategies that let information operations survive across shifting information environments.
Key Contributions
- Advances understanding of how informational manipulation operations endure by continually adapting to new events.
- Reframes manipulation as an ongoing, opportunistic process rather than a one-off or static campaign.
- Highlights the appropriation of emerging events as a mechanism for campaign persistence and continued relevance.
Methods
The methods are not specified in the available abstract. The framing situates the work within empirical research on coordinated inauthentic behavior and information operations, but the specific analytical approach, data, and time frame cannot be characterized from the summary provided.
Findings
- Specific findings are not detailed in the available abstract.
- The paper’s core empirical claims — as stated — are that manipulation campaigns persist over long periods and that they appropriate emerging events to sustain themselves.
Connections
This paper sits within the coordinated inauthentic behavior and information operations literature and shares authorship and thematic ground with related work on detecting and characterizing coordinated campaigns, such as Graham2026-fb and Graham2025-gp. Its emphasis on the temporal persistence and adaptive appropriation of events complements longitudinal accounts of information operations and rumoring around crises, including Starbird2025-jj, and connects to broader efforts to detect and track coordinated activity across events, such as Luceri2025-tr and DeVerna2025-dl.
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