30 MARCH 2020
One day last fall, I sat down to create a new Facebook account.
I picked a forgettable name, snapped a profile pic with my face
obscured, and clicked “Like” on the official pages of Donald
Trump and his reelection campaign. Facebook’s algorithm prod-
ded me to follow Ann Coulter, Fox Business, and a variety of fan
pages with names like “In Trump We Trust.” I complied. I also
gave my cellphone number to the Trump campaign, and joined
a handful of private Facebook groups for MAGA diehards, one
of which required an application that seemed designed to screen
out interlopers.
The president’s reelection campaign was then in the midst
of a multimillion-dollar ad blitz aimed at shaping Americans’
understanding of the recently launched impeachment proceed-
ings. Thousands of micro-targeted ads had flooded the internet,
portraying Trump as a heroic reformer cracking down on foreign
corruption while Democrats plotted a coup. That this narrative
bore little resemblance to reality seemed only to accelerate its
spread. Right-wing websites amplified every claim. Pro-Trump
forums teemed with conspiracy theories. An alternate information
ecosystem was taking shape around the biggest news story in the
country, and I wanted to see it from the inside.
The story that unfurled in my Facebook feed over the next
several weeks was, at times, disorienting. There were days when
I would watch, live on TV, an impeachment hearing filled with
damning testimony about the president’s conduct, only to look at
my phone later and find a slickly edited video—served
up by the Trump campaign—that used out-of-context
clips to recast the same testimony as an exoneration.
Wait, I caught myself wondering more than once, is
that what happened today?
As I swiped at my phone, a stream of pro-Trump
propaganda filled the screen: “That’s right, the whistle-
blower’s own lawyer said, ‘The coup has started ...’ ”
Swipe. “Democrats are doing Putin’s bidding ...” Swipe.
“The only message these radical socialists and extremists
will understand is a crushing ...” Swipe. “Only one man
can stop this chaos ...” Swipe, swipe, swipe.
I was surprised by the effect it had on me. I’d
assumed that my skepticism and media literacy would
inoculate me against such distortions. But I soon found
myself reflexively questioning every headline. It wasn’t
that I believed Trump and his boosters were telling
the truth. It was that, in this state of heightened sus-
picion, truth itself—about Ukraine, impeachment, or
anything else—felt more and more difficult to locate.
With each swipe, the notion of observable reality
drifted further out of reach.
What I was seeing was a strategy that has been
deployed by illiberal political leaders around the
world. Rather than shutting down dissenting voices,
these leaders have learned to harness the democratiz-
ing power of social media for their own purposes—
jamming the signals, sowing confusion. They no longer
need to silence the dissident shouting in the streets; they
can use a megaphone to drown him out. Scholars have
a name for this: censorship through noise.
After the 2016 election, much was made of the threats posed
to American democracy by foreign disinformation. Stories of
Russian troll farms and Macedonian fake-news mills loomed in
the national imagination. But while these shadowy outside forces
preoccupied politicians and journalists, Trump and his domestic
allies were beginning to adopt the same tactics of information
warfare that have kept the world’s demagogues and strongmen
in power.
Every presidential campaign sees its share of spin and mis-
direction, but this year’s contest promises to be different. In con-
versations with political strategists and other experts, a dystopian
picture of the general election comes into view—one shaped
by coordinated bot attacks, Potemkin local-news sites, micro-
targeted fear mongering, and anonymous mass texting. Both par-
ties will have these tools at their disposal. But in the hands of a
president who lies constantly, who traffics in conspiracy theories,
and who readily manipulates the levers of government for his own
gain, their potential to wreak havoc is enormous.
The Trump campaign is planning to spend more than $1 bil-
lion, and it will be aided by a vast coalition of partisan media,
outside political groups, and enterprising freelance operatives.
These pro-Trump forces are poised to wage what could be the
most extensive disinformation campaign in U.S. history. Whether
or not it succeeds in reelecting the president, the wreckage it leaves
behind could be irreparable.