Measuring the Impact and Effectiveness of Adversarial Propaganda and Disinformation

This study examined Russian active measures on Twitter targeting American audiences with content regarding the Syrian conflict. The research team, a graduate Capstone workshop at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), worked in consultation with the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) to design and carry out this project. The team used a dataset compiled of roughly 3 million tweets produced by Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA) between 2014 and 2018. By examining a subset of 4,936 tweets specifically discussing Syria, the team identified, catalogued, and analyzed common topics and narratives as well as target audiences. The project developed a detailed picture of Russian active measures targeting American audiences on Twitter and reveals the following points: (1.) Russia exploits Syria as a wedge issue as part of its larger active measures campaign to divide Americans and undermine U.S. politics and society, and (2.) Russia strategically seeks to advance its foreign policy goals in Syria, by attempting to sway American public opinion against U.S. involvement in the conflict.