Template:Behavioural influences
Companies that engage in the influence-for-hire industry range from content farms to high-end public relations agencies. Traditionally influence operations have largely been confined to public sector actors like intelligence agencies, in the influence-for-hire industry the groups conduction the operations are private with commerce being their primary consideration.[2] However many of the clients in the influence-for-hire industry are countries or countries acting through proxies.[1] They are often located in countries with less expensive digital labor.[3]
History
In May 2021, Facebook took a Ukrainian influence-for-hire network offline. Facebook attributed the network to organizations and consultants linked to Ukrainian politicians including Andriy Derkach.[4][5]
During the COVID-19 pandemic state sponsored misinformation was spread through influence-for-hire networks.[6]
In August 2021, a report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute implicated the Chinese government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party in campaigns of online manipulation conducted against Australia and Taiwan using influence-for-hire.[7][8][9][10]
↑Loudermilk, E. Louise; O’Brien, Joseph J.; Goodrick, Scott L.; Linn, Rodman R.; Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Hiers, J. Kevin (2022-06-10). "Vegetation's influence on fire behavior goes beyond just being fuel". Fire Ecology18 (1): 9. doi:10.1186/s42408-022-00132-9. ISSN1933-9747.