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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.16951 |
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| _version_ | 1866912659494928384 |
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| author | Lepird, Christine Sowa Carley, Kathleen M. |
| author_facet | Lepird, Christine Sowa Carley, Kathleen M. |
| contents | In the rise of the digital era, it's easier than ever to create nefarious websites to spread misinformation. A more recent phenomenon in the United States has been the creation of inauthentic local news websites to further an information operation campaign. This paper is a review of the 7 instances in which local news websites were created to influence residents of a region between 2007 and 2024. By breaking down the ways in which these sites operated, we discovered commonalities in the approach - resurrecting "zombie" papers that were previously established authentic local news organizations, sharing these sites on social media, and using website templates from WordPress. By analyzing these commonalities, we propose ways to mitigate the occurrence of these campaigns in the future. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_16951 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Local News Hijacking: A Review of International Instances Lepird, Christine Sowa Carley, Kathleen M. Computers and Society In the rise of the digital era, it's easier than ever to create nefarious websites to spread misinformation. A more recent phenomenon in the United States has been the creation of inauthentic local news websites to further an information operation campaign. This paper is a review of the 7 instances in which local news websites were created to influence residents of a region between 2007 and 2024. By breaking down the ways in which these sites operated, we discovered commonalities in the approach - resurrecting "zombie" papers that were previously established authentic local news organizations, sharing these sites on social media, and using website templates from WordPress. By analyzing these commonalities, we propose ways to mitigate the occurrence of these campaigns in the future. |
| title | Local News Hijacking: A Review of International Instances |
| topic | Computers and Society |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.16951 |