The Gender Dimensions of Foreign Influence Operations

Authors

  • Samantha Bradshaw Stanford University
  • Amélie Henle Oxford Internet Institute

Keywords:

foreign influence operations, feminism, gender, disinformation, social media, social movements

Abstract

Drawing on a qualitative analysis of 7,506 tweets by state-sponsored accounts from Russia’s GRU and the Internet Research Agency (IRA), Iran, and Venezuela, this article examines the gender dimensions of foreign influence operations. By examining the political communication of feminism and women’s rights, we find, first, that foreign state actors co-opted intersectional critiques and countermovement narratives about feminism and female empowerment to demobilize civil society activists, spread progovernment propaganda, and generate virality around divisive political topics. Second, 10 amplifier accounts—particularly from the Russian IRA and GRU—drove more than one-third of the Twitter conversations about feminism and women’s rights. Third, high-profile feminist politicians, activists, celebrities, and journalists were targeted with character attacks by the Russian GRU. These attacks happened indirectly, reinforcing a culture of hate rather than attempting to stifle or suppress the expression of rights through threats or harassment. This comparative look at the online political communication of women’s rights by foreign state actors highlights distinct blueprints for foreign influence operations while enriching the literature about the unique challenges women face online.

Author Biographies

Samantha Bradshaw, Stanford University

Samantha Bradshaw is a post-doctoral fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab and the Internet Observatory at Stanford University where she studies the relationship between technology and democracy, and the producers and drivers of disinformation and computational propaganda. Samantha’s work has been published in leading academic journals, including New Media & Society, Policy & Internet, Internet Policy Review and the Columbia Journal of International Affairs. Her research and public writing have also been featured by international media including The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN. Samantha completed her D.Phil. in information, communication and the social sciences at the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University.

Amélie Henle, Oxford Internet Institute

Amélie Henle is a graduate student and researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, finishing her M.Sc. in Social Science of the Internet in 2020. Her research focus lies with the interaction of humans and technology, focusing on themes of disinformation and influence campaigns, computational propaganda, collective and individual online behaviour and gender. Amélie has been supporting the work of the Oxford Internet Institute’s Computational Propaganda Research Project by contributing case studies and co-authoring their annual Global Cyber Troops Report.

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Published

2021-10-28

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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