As 2016 undoubtedly demonstrated, foreign efforts to interfere in elections and politics by way of social media-based information operations are now a mainstay. Several operations identified by various social media platforms since then certainly suggest that more attention is being paid to these campaigns and more efforts are underway to mitigate them. However, as we progress into 2020 and the potential ramifications that the election year holds, domestic born information operations lack attention and continue largely unabated.
Whether these operations exist under the guise of public relations, marketing, news, or other, some aspect of their purpose, origin, funding, or source material are obfuscated; thereby negating attempts to determine their authenticity or provenance. This briefing will discuss four such identified domestic operations -- ranging from Jacob Wohl’s “intelligence” organizations to a Trump campaign news aggregator site -- all of which have a different flavor and demonstrate the wide range of effects that information operations seek to achieve.