Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Disinformation, irrespective of domain or language, aims to deceive or manipulate public opinion, typically employing advanced persuasion techniques. Qualitative and quantitative research on the weaponisation of persuasion techniques in disinformation narratives, however, has been mostly limited to specific topics (e.g., COVID-19).To address this gap, our study conducts a large-scale, multi-domain analysis of the role of 16 persuasion techniques in disinformation narratives, by leveraging a state-of-the-art persuasion technique classifier. We demonstrate how different persuasion techniques are employed disproportionately in different disinformation domains. We also include an in-depth case study on climate change disinformation, which demonstrates how linguistic, psychological, and cultural factors shape the adaptation of persuasion strategies to fit unique thematic contexts.
Institution: University of Sheffield
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Award: G8792086433
OpenAlex ID: W4410638173