Oliver Boyd-Barrett 
RussiaGate and Propaganda [EPUB ebook] 
Disinformation in the Age of Social Media

This book furthers our understanding of the practice of propaganda with a specific focus on the Russia Gate case.

Russia Gate is a discourse about alleged Russian ‚meddling‘ in US elections, and this book argues that it functions as disinformation or distraction. The book provides a framework for better understanding of ongoing developments of Russia Gate, linking these to macroconsiderations that rarely enter mainstream accounts. It demonstrates the considerable weaknesses of many of the charges that have been made against Russia by US investigators, and argues that this discourse fails to take account of broader non-transparent persuasion campaigns operating in the election-information environment that are strengthened by social media manipulation. Russia Gate has obscured many of the factors that challenge the integrity of democratic process in the USA. These deserve a much higher priority than any influence that Russia may want to exert. The book concludes that Russia Gate discourse needs to be contextualized with reference to a long-established broader competition between great powers for domination of Eur Asia. This pitches the US/European Union against Russia/China and perhaps, ultimately, even the USA against Europe.

This book will be of much interest to students of media and communication studies, propaganda studies, US politics, Russian politics, and International Relations in general.