Propaganda and manipulation

Propaganda is information that is not objective and is used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is presented Propaganda is often associated with material prepared by governments, but activist groups, companies, and the media can also produce propaganda.

Such manipulation may be conducted for purposes of propaganda, discreditation, harming corporate or political competitors, improving personal or brand reputation or plain trolling among other things. To accomplish these objectives, online influencers, hired professionals and/or software − typically Internet bots such as social bots, votebots and clickbots − may be used. Cognitive hacking refers to a cyberattack that aims to change users' perceptions and corresponding behaviors. Internet manipulation is sometimes also used to describe selective Internet censorship or violations of net neutrality.