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Candidates and Memes on the Campaign Trail Alyssa Kann May 6, 2019

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Candidates and Memes on the Campaign Trail Alyssa Kann May 6, 2019 1 Candidates and Memes on the Campaign Trail Alyssa Kann May 6, 2019 A senior thesis, submitted to the International & Global Studies Department of Brandeis University, in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Arts degree. 2 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................. 4 Terms and Questions in the Information Environment ................................................................... 7 Thesis Roadmap ......................................................................................................................11 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................................13 Introduction ............................................................................................................................13 Presidential Races on Social Media ............................................................................................13 Presidential Races and Information Warfare on Social Media ........................................................15 Detecting Manipulative Behavior Online ....................................................................................18 Meme-Specific Information Warfare ..........................................................................................19 Humanities meme studies ......................................................................................................19 Computer science meme studies .............................................................................................21 Memes, Spread, and Virality .....................................................................................................22 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................23 Chapter 3: Defining Models and Data Collection .............................................................................25 Introduction ............................................................................................................................25 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................25 Defining a Model .....................................................................................................................26 Methodology ...........................................................................................................................28 Unused Data and Other Areas ....................................................................................................32 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................34 Chapter 4: Elizabeth Warren .........................................................................................................36 Introduction ............................................................................................................................36 Brief Background .....................................................................................................................36 Presidential Bid and Pocahontas ................................................................................................37 Memes and Methodology ..........................................................................................................40 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................47 Chapter 5: Kirsten Gillibrand ........................................................................................................48 Introduction ............................................................................................................................48 Brief Background .....................................................................................................................48 Perceptions of Hypocrisy ..........................................................................................................49 Stance on Sexual Assault ..........................................................................................................50 Memes and Methodology ..........................................................................................................51 3 “A Flunky for Schumer” ...........................................................................................................59 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................60 Chapter 6: Tulsi Gabbard..............................................................................................................61 Introduction ............................................................................................................................61 Brief Background .....................................................................................................................61 Memes and Methodology ..........................................................................................................63 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................70 Chapter 7: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................72 Works Cited................................................................................................................................75 Figures and Tables List Figure 1.1: A Dawkins Meme Figure 1.2: Information Toolbox Figure 3.1: Meme Model Figure 3.2 Meme Model Coding Methodology Figure 3.3 Methodology Example (Kirsten Gillibrand) Table 4.1: Meme Model Applied to Warren’s Memes Table 4.2: Sentiment Towards Warren Figure 4.1: Warren’s Fraction of Native American Heritage Figure 4.2: False Information in Warren’s Memes Table 4.3: Themes in Warren’s Memes Figure 4.3: The Evolution of a Meme Figure 4.4: Reddit Meme Manufacturing Table 5.1: Meme Model Applied to Gillibrand’s Memes Figure 5.1: Sexual Assault and Hypocrisy in Gillibrand’s Memes Figure 5.2: Bill Clinton in Gillibrand Memes Table 5.3: Sentiment Towards Gillibrand Figure 5.3: Positive Memes Voting Against Trump’s Picks Figure 5.4: “Flunky for Schumer” Memes Table 6.1: Sentiment Towards Gabbard Table 6.2: Meme Model Applied to Gabbard’s Memes Table 6.3: Themes in Gabbard’s Memes Figure 6.1: Gabbard Memes with a Weirdly Wide Reach Figure 6.2: Confused “C1” Meme Figure 6.3: Russian Google Searches of Tulsi Gabbard, Last 12 Months Figure 6.4: American Google Searches of Tulsi Gabbard, Last 12 Months Figure 6.5: Bizarre Bipartisanship 4 Chapter 1: Introduction The meteoric rise in social media use worldwide has created unintended consequences. Problems online are manifest and connected, from false information spread on social media, to foreign interference, to propaganda hotspots like the infamous alt-right Reddit forum “The_Donald.” Internet anonymity shields bad actors, governments, and organizations from detection by the average citizen. Significantly, malicious and shadowy influence campaigns online have targeted elections worldwide in recent years. These events make it more necessary than ever to be able to identify what influence campaigns look like. Yet there has been little academic research on this topic. Russian interference and targeted disinformation campaigns have gained attention globally in over two dozen Western countries. From the 2016 US presidential election, to the British Brexit vote, to elections in Montenegro, influence campaigns online have perpetuated false information on social media and sown discord.1 The New York Times described this as a Russian “virtual invasion.” 2 The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace called on the U.S. to double down on its efforts to prevent electoral interference ahead of the 2018 midterms.3 The 2018 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community listed influence campaigns as an international threat; it explicitly stated that “more governments are 1 David Shimer, “Smaller Democracies Grapple with the Threat of Russian Interference,” December 8, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/smaller-democracies-grapple-with-the-threat-of-russian-interference. 2 Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti, “The Plot to Subvert an Election: Unraveling the Russia Story So Far,” The New York Times, September 20, 2018, sec. U.S., https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/20/us/politics/russia- interference-election-trump-clinton.html, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/20/us/politics/russia- interference-election-trump-clinton.html. 3 Erik Brattberg Maurer Tim and Erik Brattberg Maurer Tim, “Russian Election Interference: Europe’s Counter to Fake News and Cyber Attacks,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, accessed October 18, 2018, https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/05/23/russian-election-interference-europe-s-counter-to-fake-news-and-cyber- attacks-pub-76435. 5 using propaganda and misinformation in social media to influence foreign and domestic audiences.”4 Such comments are in light of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections, which inflamed the American public. Congress publicly released the Facebook ads purchased by Russia, as well as Twitter handles
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