Emma Briant

This Handbook provides the first comprehensive examination of the influence industry and how it operates worldwide across different domains.

The rapid evolution of emerging technologies and data-driven persuasive practices has been linked to the spread of misleading content in domestic and foreign influence campaigns. This has prompted worldwide public and policy discussions about disinformation and how to curb its spread. However, less attention has been paid to the increasingly… Show more

This Handbook provides the first comprehensive examination of the influence industry and how it operates worldwide across different domains.

The rapid evolution of emerging technologies and data-driven persuasive practices has been linked to the spread of misleading content in domestic and foreign influence campaigns. This has prompted worldwide public and policy discussions about disinformation and how to curb its spread. However, less attention has been paid to the increasingly data-driven commercial industry taking advantage of the opportunities these new technologies afford. The handbook uses the term ‘influence’ here to include not only messaging and public relations (PR), which fell within the traditional focus of propaganda studies, but to consider the infrastructure and actors behind an advanced array of capabilities that can be used in a coordinated way to affect an audience’s emotions, ideas and behaviors in order to advance a state or non-state actor’s objectives – increasingly based on data-driven profiling. The volume fills a gap in scholarship exploring the recent technical, political and economic development of this industry, surveying the extent of different technologies and services offered to clients worldwide across multiple domains (commercial, political, national security and government). The chapters are divided into three thematic sections and evaluate Influence Industry practices, aims and effectiveness across audiences; business practices and economics; and democratic structures and human rights. They also offer advice for researchers and consider key ethical issues and new regulatory approaches.

This volume will be of much interest to students of political science, propaganda studies, sociology, communication studies and journalism. Show less

Since 2016’s UK Brexit referendum and US presidential election, concern about influence operations has dominated media coverage, scholarship, and policy debates. Social media platforms enabled a Wild West where disinformation (deliberately false or ‘black’ propaganda) can be distributed with algorithmic precision to influence minds and behaviours. This chapter’s contribution is in defining a ‘digital influence industry’ concept, distinguishing it from similar actors, and analysing its role and… Show more

Since 2016’s UK Brexit referendum and US presidential election, concern about influence operations has dominated media coverage, scholarship, and policy debates. Social media platforms enabled a Wild West where disinformation (deliberately false or ‘black’ propaganda) can be distributed with algorithmic precision to influence minds and behaviours. This chapter’s contribution is in defining a ‘digital influence industry’ concept, distinguishing it from similar actors, and analysing its role and its importance for understanding influence operations and, within it, propaganda and ‘disinformation’. The author advocates for renewed focus on studying influence actors and industries to understand more deeply their distinct roles in shaping ideas, emotions, and behaviours for governments, politicians, and other actors. The chapter argues this is essential to understanding and addressing misleading campaigns within a democracy in a way that ensures accountability and protects free speech and citizens’ rights. Show less

Recent years have seen states increasingly using the internet to engage in espionage or leverage influence over their own populations and other states. Russia has expanded the use of cyber-enabled influence operations (IO) following its 2022 assault on Ukraine, a country which has been “one of the biggest victims of offensive cyber operations in the post-Cold War era” (Burton, 2019: 117). This chapter will discuss the implications of cyber-enabled IO for freedom of expression, a concept… Show more

Recent years have seen states increasingly using the internet to engage in espionage or leverage influence over their own populations and other states. Russia has expanded the use of cyber-enabled influence operations (IO) following its 2022 assault on Ukraine, a country which has been “one of the biggest victims of offensive cyber operations in the post-Cold War era” (Burton, 2019: 117). This chapter will discuss the implications of cyber-enabled IO for freedom of expression, a concept neglected in debates about cyber (Burton, 2019) but vital to Propaganda Studies and journalism. The chapter will consider questions of publication, distribution and impacts of cyber-enabled political warfare as well as government responses. It argues that centralising cyber as a freedom of expression issue is imperative, as cyber intimidation is used by an adversary to silence and create distrust in civil society voices deemed undesirable, allowing conspiracy theories to spread. At the state level, cyber-enabled attacks aiming to drive such conspiracy theories may seek to exploit government reactions that extend secrecy and roll back citizen rights, to fuel further distrust and hacks. The chapter argues government transparency and strong journalism are key to breaking this spiral of what it calls “secrecy hacking”, suppression and conspiracy propaganda. Show less

It’s time for a public debate about clandestine PSYOPs, argues Dr. Emma L. Briant, a political communication scholar who researches contemporary propaganda and information warfare, and its governance and ethics in an age of mass-surveillance.

I argue ‘Censorship’ of the Kremlin’s war isn’t all it seems... responding to recent comments by Glenn Greenwald and Elon Musk's Twitter purchase on the back of claims that pro-Russia views are being censored.

The period of growing tensions between the United States and Russia (2013–2019) saw mutual accusations of digital interference, disinformation, fake news, and propaganda, particularly following the Ukraine crisis and the 2016 US presidential election. This article asks how the United States and Russia represent each other’s and their own propaganda, its threat, and power over audiences. We examine these representations in US and Russian policy documents and online articles from public diplomacy… Show more

The period of growing tensions between the United States and Russia (2013–2019) saw mutual accusations of digital interference, disinformation, fake news, and propaganda, particularly following the Ukraine crisis and the 2016 US presidential election. This article asks how the United States and Russia represent each other’s and their own propaganda, its threat, and power over audiences. We examine these representations in US and Russian policy documents and online articles from public diplomacy media Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and RT. The way propaganda is framed, (de)legitimized, and securitized has important implications for public understanding of crises, policy responses, and future diplomacy. We demonstrate how propaganda threats have become a major part of the discourse about the US–Russia relationship in recent years, prioritizing state-centred responses and disempowering audiences. Show less

Following the November 2015 terrorist attacks, this is analysis for The Conversation: 'West’s crisis of communication will make terrorist atrocities more likely'. - Responding to the tragedy it discusses the failure of US and UK propaganda and counter-terrorism strategies including Prevent, the recent media smearing of refugees and Muslims and the urgent need for independent social science in informing policy.

This book offers a unique account of British and United States government's attempts to adapt their propaganda strategies to global terrorist threats in a post-9/11 media environment. It discusses Anglo-American coordination and domestic struggles that brought in far-reaching changes to propaganda. These changes had implications for the structures of legitimacy yet occurred largely in isolation from public debate and raise questions regarding their governance. The author argues that independent… Show more

This book offers a unique account of British and United States government's attempts to adapt their propaganda strategies to global terrorist threats in a post-9/11 media environment. It discusses Anglo-American coordination and domestic struggles that brought in far-reaching changes to propaganda. These changes had implications for the structures of legitimacy yet occurred largely in isolation from public debate and raise questions regarding their governance. The author argues that independent and public reexamination of continuing strategy development is essential for government accountability and the formation of systems and policies that both respect citizens and build constructive foreign relations. The book's themes will appeal to a wide readership including scholars and professionals. It draws on illuminating interviews with high-profile British/US sources including journalists, PR professionals and key foreign policy, defence and intelligence personnel.

Recent Review by Dr Vian Bakir at Bangor University: http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/issues/propaganda/item/5767-review-of-emma-louise-briant-2015-propaganda-and-counter-terrorism-strategies-for-global-change Show less

Available for download at: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/88783/

An article based on excerpts from a chapter in the book, Bad News for Refugees by the Glasgow Media Group. It examines, in a detailed content analysis of sixty-nine articles in UK national papers in June 2011, how the rightwing press helped set the political agenda on immigration through a consistent conflation of issues of economic and forced migration, an emphasis on numbers as a threat, the pointing to migrants as an economic burden and potential criminals and a stress on the need for… Show more

An article based on excerpts from a chapter in the book, Bad News for Refugees by the Glasgow Media Group. It examines, in a detailed content analysis of sixty-nine articles in UK national papers in June 2011, how the rightwing press helped set the political agenda on immigration through a consistent conflation of issues of economic and forced migration, an emphasis on numbers as a threat, the pointing to migrants as an economic burden and potential criminals and a stress on the need for immigration controls. Show less

Bad News for Refugees analyses the political, economic and environmental contexts of migration and looks specifically at how refugees and asylum seekers have been stigmatised in political rhetoric and in media coverage.

Through forensic research it shows how hysterical and inaccurate media accounts act to legitimise political action which can have terrible consequences both on the lives of refugees and also on established migrant communities.

Based on new research by the renowned… Show more

Bad News for Refugees analyses the political, economic and environmental contexts of migration and looks specifically at how refugees and asylum seekers have been stigmatised in political rhetoric and in media coverage.

Through forensic research it shows how hysterical and inaccurate media accounts act to legitimise political action which can have terrible consequences both on the lives of refugees and also on established migrant communities.

Based on new research by the renowned Glasgow Media Group, Bad News for Refugees is essential reading for those concerned with the negative effects of media on public understanding and for the safety of vulnerable groups and communities in our society. Show less

'A woman enmeshed in a fantasy world of surreal objects tangles with the detached pathos of strangers.'

OFFICIAL SELECTION - 8th BYRON BAY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Premiering 6th March: http://www.bbff.com.au/


Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sumaglla/1456577501220705

Reviewed by Dr Gianluca Fantoni, University of Strathclyde:
"The principal merit of Sumaglla, by Sally Richards, is that it is a totally
unpretentious film. The author uses the… Show more

'A woman enmeshed in a fantasy world of surreal objects tangles with the detached pathos of strangers.'

OFFICIAL SELECTION - 8th BYRON BAY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Premiering 6th March: http://www.bbff.com.au/


Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sumaglla/1456577501220705

Reviewed by Dr Gianluca Fantoni, University of Strathclyde:
"The principal merit of Sumaglla, by Sally Richards, is that it is a totally
unpretentious film. The author uses the camera with the immediacy of an
impressionist artist, recording impressions, emotions and ideas arising from
an unlikely encounter (one which we would like to believe fortuitous) with an
enigmatic old woman and the sumptuous, rather decadent and vaguely
creepy maison she inhabits. Yet, as a dada artist would, Sally Richards does
not repress her inner urge to make sense of what she sees, the compulsion of
creating meaning. Is the author depicting reality? Is she speaking the truth?
Luckily, she is not. Reality is just an illusion, a washed out picture, like the
recollection of a young sister, or perhaps a friend of happier times, who died
fifty years ago. Sumaglla is not about a British girl meeting an old Italian-
Ecuadorian lady. It is about the nature of the filmic medium and its ability to
be a brain, rather than an eye, investigating what lies inside us, rather than
out there." Show less

Charity anthology for Int. Red Cross in Japan.

The research found a fall in coverage that described disabled people in sympathetic and deserving terms and an increase in the number of articles focussing on disability benefit fraud, which was the theme typically mentioned by focus groups.

The report, entitled ‘Bad News for Disabled People: how newspapers are reporting disability’, analysed 2,276 print articles in a variety of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers and also analysed findings from focus groups. The research was conducted by… Show more

The research found a fall in coverage that described disabled people in sympathetic and deserving terms and an increase in the number of articles focussing on disability benefit fraud, which was the theme typically mentioned by focus groups.

The report, entitled ‘Bad News for Disabled People: how newspapers are reporting disability’, analysed 2,276 print articles in a variety of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers and also analysed findings from focus groups. The research was conducted by the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research and Glasgow Media Group, and commissioned by Inclusion London. It provides compelling evidence for use by disabled people in making a case for more balanced media coverage and for changes in both government policy and in how policies are communicated and impact. Show less

Screenwriting/Production
Film was on Glasgow University’s ‘Refugee Asylum & Migration Network’

A charitable anthology inspired by Japanese culture, in support the Japanese Red Cross appeal following the Great North East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011.

-Why invest in Family Relationship Support? Research Report.
-Why invest in Family Relationship Support? Outcomes.
-Exploring the Involvement of Fathers in Domestic and Developmental Childcare Tasks Using Sweep 2 of the Growing Up Scotland Study