View source for Social:Information laundering

{{short description|Propaganda tactic}}
'''Information laundering''' is the surfacing of news, false or otherwise, from unverified sources into the mainstream.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Merelli |first=Annalisa |date=December 1, 2016 |title=Fake news: Jon Stewart says the media has become an 'information-laundering scheme' |url=https://qz.com/850475/jon-stewart-the-american-media-has-become-an-information-laundering-scheme/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095741/https://qz.com/850475/jon-stewart-the-american-media-has-become-an-information-laundering-scheme |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |website=Quartz |language=en}}</ref> In advancing [[Social:Disinformation|disinformation]] in such a way that makes it accepted as ostensibly legitimate [[Information|information]], information laundering resembles [[Finance:Money laundering|money laundering]]—the transforming of illicit funds into ostensibly legitimate funds.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |first=Kirill |last=Meleshevich |first2=Bret |last2=Schafer |date=January 9, 2018 |title=Online Information Laundering: The Role of Social Media |url=https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/online-information-laundering-the-role-of-social-media/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095740/https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/online-information-laundering-the-role-of-social-media/ |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |website=Alliance For Securing Democracy |language=en-US}}</ref>

In [[Adversarial machine learning|adversarial machine learning]], ''information laundering'' refers to a general strategy that purposely alters the information released to adversaries, with the goal of alleviating [[Adversarial machine learning#Model stealing|model stealing]] attacks.<ref>{{Cite arXiv |last1=Wang |first1=Xinran |last2=Xiang |first2=Yu |last3=Gao |first3=Jun |last4=Ding |first4=Jie |date=2020 |title=Information Laundering for Model Privacy |arxiv=2009.06112 }}</ref>

== Descriptions ==
Information laundering, as summarized by American comedian and commentator Jon Stewart, can happen when relatively reputable news organizations report on something that a blog or platform of unknown [[Philosophy:Credibility|credibility]] has written. These news organizations may attribute the assertion, but another publication may omit its original source. "That piece of information [on where the news came from] has now been laundered," Stewart says, and the original assertion, whether or not its source was credible, gains credibility, especially if it is used by outlets known for high standards.<ref name=":0" />

[[Organization:Pace University|Pace University]]'s Adam Klein, who developed the theory, argues that information laundering is similar to how criminals [[Finance:Money laundering|launder]] illegal funds into financial institutions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klein |first=Adam |date=2012 |title=Slipping Racism into the Mainstream: A Theory of Information Laundering |journal=Communication Theory |language=en |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=427–448 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2885.2012.01415.x}}</ref> In the case of information laundering, illegitimate [[Finance:Exchange of information|exchanges of information]] flow through social networks, political blogs, and search engines, where they intermix with mainstream ideas, and gradually become washed of their radical origins. According to Klein, "[[Unsolved:Conspiracy theory|[c]onspiracies]] grow in communities like [[Company:Reddit|Reddit]] or [[Company:Twitter|Twitter]], which can act as incubators. Then they graduate onto more respected websites and political blogs, until sometimes, they're picked up by [[Social:Mainstream media|mainstream news outlets]] as 'trusted information'."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ellis |first=Emma Grey |date=May 31, 2017 |title=To Make Your Conspiracy Theory Legit, Just Find an 'Expert' |url=https://www.wired.com/2017/05/conspiracy-theory-experts/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927202253/https://www.wired.com/2017/05/conspiracy-theory-experts/ |archive-date=September 27, 2017 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |magazine=Wired |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

Digital platforms can be especially vulnerable to information laundering efforts; faked videos ([[Deepfake|deepfake]]s) and images ([[Photograph manipulation|photograph manipulation]]), for instance, can create media moments and spread disinformation.<ref>{{cite report |last1=Smith |first1=Hannah |last2=Mansted |first2=Katherine |year=2020 |title=Weaponised deep fakes |language=en |publisher=Australian Strategic Policy Institute |jstor=resrep25129 |jstor-access=free |url=https://ad-aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2020-04/Weaponised%20deep%20fakes.pdf }}</ref> According to Karen Kornbluh, director of the German Marshall Fund's Digital Innovation Democracy initiative, and Ellen Goodman, director of the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy & Law, [[Social:Social bot|bots]], fake accounts and [[Finance:Click farm|click farm]]s "pretend to be people they're not and create a false sense of [[Philosophy:Consensus reality|consensus]]", and commercial platforms, "designed to keep users online to be served ads, end up privileging engagement over truth or the public interest. What drives engagement is often outrage and [[Philosophy:Disgust|disgust]], so this is what the [[Algorithm|algorithm]] rewards."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kornbluh |first1=Karen |last2=Goodman |first2=Ellen |title=To Fight Online Disinformation, Reinvigorate Media Policy |date=June 13, 2019 |url=https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2019/06/fight-online-disinformation-reinvigorate-media-policy/157705/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095746/https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2019/06/fight-online-disinformation-reinvigorate-media-policy/157705/ |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 6, 2020 |website=Government Executive |language=en}}</ref>

According to a report by NATO in 2020, [[Social:State actor|state actor]]s that engage in information laundering, particularly {{wipe|Russia}}, "are generally supported by cyber capabilities that enhance the spread and amplification of a laundered piece, e.g. through the creation of fake personas and burner accounts, and sophisticated for manipulation of information, e.g. through the distribution of forged letters."<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=October 2020|title=Information Laundering in Germany|url=https://www.stratcomcoe.org/information-laundering-germany|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318162401/https://stratcomcoe.org/publications/information-laundering-in-germany/23|archive-date=March 18, 2023|access-date=December 19, 2020|website=NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence|language=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Similar phrases ==
A similar phrase, ''idea laundering'', has described how [[Biography:Academician|academician]]s may advance [[Philosophy:Non-science|non-scientific]] ideas as knowledge or fact.<ref>{{Cite web|last=R., John|date=September 21, 2019|title=The national security implications of idea laundering|url=https://sofrep.com/news/the-national-security-implications-of-idea-laundering/|access-date=April 8, 2021|website=SOFREP|language=en|archive-date=January 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095738/https://sofrep.com/news/the-national-security-implications-of-idea-laundering/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Boghossian |first=Peter |date=November 24, 2019 |title='Idea Laundering' in Academia |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/idea-laundering-in-academia-11574634492 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221071320/https://wsj.com/articles/idea-laundering-in-academia-11574634492 |archive-date=February 21, 2023 |access-date=April 8, 2021 |work={{wipe|The Wall Street Journal}} |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Dutta |first1=Shiladitya |last2=Uhegbu |first2=Kelechi |last3=Nori |first3=Sathvik |last4=Mashkoor |first4=Sohyb |last5=Taswell |first5=S. Koby |last6=Taswell |first6=Carl |title=2020 IEEE 14th International Conference on Semantic Computing (ICSC) |chapter=DREAM Principles from the PORTAL-DOORS Project and NPDS Cyberinfrastructure |date=February 2020 |chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9031516 |pages=211–216 |doi=10.1109/ICSC.2020.00044 |isbn=978-1-7281-6332-1 |s2cid=212705263 |access-date=September 30, 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095742/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9031516/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Taswell |first1=S. Koby |last2=Triggle |first2=Christopher |last3=Vayo |first3=June |last4=Dutta |first4=Shiladitya |last5=Taswell |first5=Carl |date=October 2020 |title=The hitchhiker's guide to scholarly research integrity |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pra2.223 |journal=Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology |language=en |volume=57 |issue=1 |doi=10.1002/pra2.223 |s2cid=225042076 |issn=2373-9231 |access-date=September 30, 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095745/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pra2.223 |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2020 paper used the phrase ''idea laundering''  to describe [[Social:Plagiarism|plagiarism]] "in which ideas are plagiarized and then the plagiarism is hidden in plain sight".<ref name=":3" /> 

Similarly, ''citation laundering'' is a colloquial term used to refer to a number of practices including:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cranford |first=Steve |date=June 3, 2020 |title=C.R.E.A.M: Citations Rule Everything Around Me |journal=Matter |language=English |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=1343–1347 |doi=10.1016/j.matt.2020.04.025 |issn=2590-2393 |s2cid=219915364 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Calculating Body Counts |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/192734-calculating-body-counts |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095739/https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/192734-calculating-body-counts |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=July 19, 2022 |website=WNYC Studios |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Françoise |last=Roth |first2=Tamy |last2=Guberek |first3=Amelia Hoover |last3=Green |url=https://hrdag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SV-report_2011-04-26.pdf |title=Using Quantitative Data to Assess Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Colombia: Challenges and Opportunities |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095736/https://hrdag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SV-report_2011-04-26.pdf |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |url-status=live |publisher=Benetech Human Rights Program and Corporación Punto de Vista |date=March 22, 2011 }}</ref>

* Hiding a self-citation by citing someone who has referenced one's own work. (Sometimes also called "stealth citation".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roach |first=Joseph |date=2017 |title=The Serendipity Tango: "Volume 1, Number 1" |journal=Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=141–152 |doi=10.1353/dtc.2017.0007 |issn=2165-2686 |s2cid=201777959}}</ref> Individual self-citation is not to be confused with journal self-citation, commonly known as [[Coercive citation|coercive citation]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Van Noorden |first1=Richard |last2=Singh Chawla |first2=Dalmeet |date=August 19, 2019 |title=Hundreds of extreme self-citing scientists revealed in new database |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=572 |issue=7771 |pages=578–579 |bibcode=2019Natur.572..578V |doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02479-7 |pmid=31455906 |s2cid=201704279 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Szomszor |first1=Martin |last2=Pendlebury |first2=David A. |last3=Adams |first3=Jonathan |date=May 1, 2020 |title=How much is too much? The difference between research influence and self-citation excess |journal=Scientometrics |language=en |volume=123 |issue=2 |pages=1119–1147 |doi=10.1007/s11192-020-03417-5 |issn=1588-2861 |s2cid=215574614 |doi-access=free}}</ref>)
* Citing a number of more recent works that ultimately all pull their information from one flawed source. This can be intentional disinformation or an accidental lack of rigor.

Self-citation practices are usually done with the intent of increasing a scholar's research impact in terms of metrics such as the [[H-index#Prone to manipulation|h-index]]; groups of scholars can form "citation farms" or "citation cartels" to aggrandize each other's work.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Sarah |date=March 19, 2020 |title=Citation Farms and Circles of Self-citation |url=https://research.uh.edu/the-big-idea/what-went-wrong/citation-farming-self-citation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095737/https://research.uh.edu/the-big-idea/what-went-wrong/citation-farming-self-citation/ |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=July 19, 2022 |website=The Big Idea |publisher=[[Organization:University of Houston|University of Houston]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hyland |first=Ken |date=February 1, 2003 |title=Self-citation and self-reference: Credibility and promotion in academic publication |journal=Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology |language=en |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=251–259 |doi=10.1002/asi.10204 |issn=1532-2882}}</ref> Self- or co-citation in this way can also contribute to information laundering as it increases the seeming authority of a claim without rigorously investigating its source.

== Examples ==
In 2013, [[Social:WikiLeaks|WikiLeaks]], which publishes secret information from anonymous sources, was said in a commentary by Jonathan Holmes on ABC Australia to be information laundering.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Holmes |date=December 14, 2010 |title=WikiLeaks, journalists and that elusive public interest |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-12-14/wikileaks-journalists-and-that-elusive-public/2374184 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095738/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-12-14/wikileaks-journalists-and-that-elusive-public/2374184 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Information laundering was alleged in the spreading of false news by social media in the 2018 Mexican election.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 29, 2018 |title=In Mexico, fake news creators up their game ahead of election |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-facebook-idUSKBN1JO2VG |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095737/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-facebook-idUSKBN1JO2VG |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |work={{wipe|Reuters}} |language=en}}</ref>

American intelligence officials say Russia has used information laundering to spread [[Social:Disinformation|disinformation]] in the West about the [[Social:COVID-19 misinformation|COVID-19 pandemic]]<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Julian E. |last2=Sanger |first2=David E. |date=July 28, 2020 |title=Russian Intelligence Agencies Push Disinformation on Pandemic |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/politics/russia-disinformation-coronavirus.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221010917/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/politics/russia-disinformation-coronavirus.html |archive-date=February 21, 2021 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |work={{wipe|The New York Times}} |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and the 2020 elections in the {{wipe|United States}}.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last1=Frenkel |first1=Sheera |last2=Barnes |first2=Julian E. |date=September 1, 2020 |title=Russians Again Targeting Americans With Disinformation, Facebook and Twitter Say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/technology/facebook-russia-disinformation-election.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229171545/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/technology/facebook-russia-disinformation-election.html |archive-date=December 29, 2022 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |work={{wipe|The New York Times}} |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Harris |first1=Shane |last2=Nakashima |first2=Ellen |date=August 21, 2020 |title=With a mix of covert disinformation and blatant propaganda, foreign adversaries bear down on final phase of presidential campaign |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/with-a-mix-of-covert-disinformation-and-blatant-propaganda-foreign-adversaries-bear-down-on-final-phase-of-presidential-campaign/2020/08/20/57997b7a-dbf1-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127123117/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/with-a-mix-of-covert-disinformation-and-blatant-propaganda-foreign-adversaries-bear-down-on-final-phase-of-presidential-campaign/2020/08/20/57997b7a-dbf1-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html |archive-date=November 27, 2022 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite interview |interviewer=Audie Cornish |first=Nina |last=Jankowicz |title=How Russia And Other Foreign Actors Sow Disinformation In Elections |date=21 February 2020 |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/02/21/808275155/how-russia-and-other-foreign-actors-sow-disinformation-in-elections |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095741/https://www.npr.org/2020/02/21/808275155/how-russia-and-other-foreign-actors-sow-disinformation-in-elections |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |website=All Things Considered |publisher=NPR |language=en}}</ref> The Russian effort has included a network of fake accounts on [[Social:Social media|social media]].<ref name=":2" /> Russian [[Social:Propaganda|propaganda]] using information laundering is also suspected in stoking fears about [[5G|5G technology]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Zappone |first=Chris |date=September 16, 2019 |title=Russian propaganda 'very likely' stoking 5G health fears in Australia: expert claims |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/russian-propaganda-stoking-5g-health-fears-in-australia-20190916-p52rmc.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095745/https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/russian-propaganda-stoking-5g-health-fears-in-australia-20190916-p52rmc.html |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=September 5, 2020 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref> The [[Social:Alliance for Securing Democracy|Alliance for Securing Democracy]], an American group that opposes Russian efforts to undermine Western elections, cites ''maskirovka,'' a [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet]]-era military doctrine that translates as 'mask' or 'masquerade', as a precursor to Russian information laundering.<ref name=":1" />

Local "Save the Children" rallies in 2020 by supporters of [[Social:QAnon|QAnon]], an American [[Social:Far-right politics|far-right]] conspiracy theory, were an example of information laundering, as QAnon hijacked a unifying cause in attempts to attract credulous local television news coverage, according to Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News.<ref>{{cite news |title=With #SaveTheChildren Rallies, QAnon Sneaks Into The Offline World {{!}} On the Media |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/savethechildren-rallies-qanon-sneaks-offline-world |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119095741/https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/savethechildren-rallies-qanon-sneaks-offline-world |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |access-date=December 20, 2020 |website=WNYC Studios |language=en}}</ref>

According to ''[[Finance:The Economist|The Economist]]'', the ''Independent Online'' of South Africa "often engages in 'information laundering' designed to make sentiment appear homegrown, says Herman Wasserman at the University of Cape Town. For instance, it will run a Chinese news-agency story on the biolab conspiracy, then get a left-wing student leader to write an article expressing concern about the supposed biolabs. Chinese news agencies will use that to write about how South Africans are worried, thus manufacturing a 'story' out of nothing at all."<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 22, 2022 |title=How Russia is trying to win over the global south |url=https://www.economist.com/international/2022/09/22/how-russia-is-trying-to-win-over-the-global-south |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924214041/https://www.economist.com/international/2022/09/22/how-russia-is-trying-to-win-over-the-global-south |archive-date=September 24, 2022 |access-date=September 25, 2022 |newspaper=[[Finance:The Economist|The Economist]] |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

In 2023, the United States Department of State accused the Chinese government of information laundering by using "manufactured personas" such as a fictitious opinion columnist named "Yi Fan" to present state narratives as "organic sentiment".<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 28, 2023 |title=How the People's Republic of China Seeks to Reshape the Global Information Environment |url=https://www.state.gov/gec-special-report-how-the-peoples-republic-of-china-seeks-to-reshape-the-global-information-environment/ |access-date=September 29, 2023 |website=United States Department of State |language=en |quote=PRC officials sometimes attribute relevant content to specific authors under false names, likely to conceal the PRC's role in producing it and falsely purporting to represent legitimate, organic sentiment in a given region. In addition, PRC officials are known in some cases to attribute such manufactured commentaries to "international affairs commentators" and then use other individual, non-official accounts to promote these commentaries. As one example, the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) uses a manufactured persona named Yi Fan, often credited as a "Beijing-based international affairs commentator," to deceptively promote pro-Beijing views on a wide variety of topics and regions. |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928232237/https://www.state.gov/gec-special-report-how-the-peoples-republic-of-china-seeks-to-reshape-the-global-information-environment/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Myers |first=Steven Lee |date=September 28, 2023 |title=China Uses 'Deceptive' Methods to Sow Disinformation, U.S. Says |language=en-US |work={{wipe|The New York Times}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/technology/china-disinformation-us-state-department.html |access-date=September 29, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929012111/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/technology/china-disinformation-us-state-department.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Willemyns |first=Alex |date=September 28, 2023 |title=US diplomat: 'We're in an undeclared information war' |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/disinformation-propaganda-report-09282023162711.html |access-date=September 29, 2023 |website=Radio Free Asia |language=en |archive-date=September 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930010005/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/disinformation-propaganda-report-09282023162711.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Social:Trading up the chain|Trading up the chain]]
* [[Social:Astroturfing|Astroturfing]]
* [[Philosophy:Circular reporting|Circular reporting]] or "citogenesis"
** Wikipedia:List of citogenesis incidents

== References ==
<references />

{{Media manipulation}}

[[Category:Internet manipulation and propaganda]]

{{Sourceattribution|Information laundering}}