Executive summary

Introduction

Part 1. Enablers

1. Political institutions and practices
Enabler 1. Systemic lack of trust in democratic institutions
Enabler 2. Inadequate political finance regulations

2. Social, political and cultural environment
Enabler 3. Polarized and divided public discourse
Enabler 4. Exclusionary and antagonistic political discourse
Enabler 5. Presence of domestic proxies
Enabler 6. Audience susceptibility to manipulation

3. News media and journalism
Enabler 7. Lack of media pluralism and independence
Enabler 8. Poor journalism and low journalistic standards
Enabler 9. Decline in trust in mainstream news sources
Enabler 10. Influence of foreign-aligned media

4. Social media
Enabler 11. Fragmented digital information environments
Enabler 12. Exploitability of digital and social media technologies
Enabler 13. Inconsistent and lax moderation policies

5. Legal and regulatory sphere
Enabler 14. Ineffective regulatory authorities
Enabler 15. Gaps in media and Internet regulations
Enabler 16. Unclear applicability of international norms

Part 2. Incentives

6. Profiting from the attention economy
Incentive 1. Engagement-driven media business model
Incentive 2. The online political advertising market

7. Access to foreign sources and resources
Incentive 3. Weaponization of foreign media funding
Incentive 4. Availability of foreign-sourced news content

8. Information manipulation industry
Incentive 5. Information manipulation for hire
Incentive 6. Information manipulation jobs

9. Conclusions

Recommendations

References