Influence-for-hire

Economy of trading influence on social media

Influence-for-hire or collective influence, refers to the economy that has emerged around buying and selling influence on social media platforms.[1]

## Overview

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Part of a series on

Behavioural influences

* Obedience
* Compliance
* Social influence
* Norm
* Social perception
* Stereotype
* Attribution
* Cognitive dissonance
* Self-perception

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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

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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]

## See also

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* Creator economy
* Cultural technology
* Hype (marketing)
* Influencer marketing
* Personal branding
* Reputation system
* Shill
* Social commerce
* Social media marketing
* Social profiling
* Viral marketing

## References

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1. ^ a b Wallace, Jacob; Boggle, Ariel; Zhang, Albert; Mansour, Hillary. "Influence for hire. The Asia-Pacific's online shadow economy". www.aspi.org.au. ASPI. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
2. ^ Loudermilk, E. Louise; O’Brien, Joseph J.; Goodrick, Scott L.; Linn, Rodman R.; Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Hiers, J. Kevin (June 10, 2022). "Vegetation's influence on fire behavior goes beyond just being fuel". Fire Ecology. 18 (1): 9. doi:10.1186/s42408-022-00132-9. ISSN 1933-9747.
3. ^ KIPAROIDZE, MARIAM (August 13, 2021). "'Influence for hire' networks are manipulating online discussions throughout the Asia Pacific region". www.codastory.com. Coda Story. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
4. ^ Culliford, Elizabeth. "Facebook Removes Ukraine Political 'Influence-For-Hire' Network". www.usnews.com. US News. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
5. ^ Somerville, Hannah (May 13, 2021). "Ukrainian MP blasts 'hysterical' Facebook after influence network busted". www.euronews.com. Euro News. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
6. ^ Mansour, Hillary; Nkwanyana, Khwezi; Page, Matthew (July 30, 2021). "The threat spectrum". www.aspistrategist.org.au. ASPI. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
7. ^ Gibson, Liam (August 10, 2021). "CCP outsourcing propaganda campaigns to content farms in Taiwan and Australia: Think tank". www.taiwannews.com.tw. Taiwan News. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
8. ^ Galloway, Anthony (August 9, 2021). "Growing online 'influence-for-hire' economy opens door for foreign interference: report". www.smh.com.au. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
9. ^ Barbaschow, Asha. "ASPI suggests government work with platforms to fight disinformation for hire". ZDNet. ZDNet. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
10. ^ Rae, Marion (August 10, 2021). "China hides behind hackers for hire: study". thewest.com.au. The West Australian. Retrieved August 14, 2021.

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Media manipulation

Context|

* Bias
* Crowd psychology
* Deception
* Dumbing down
* False balance
* Half-truths
* Media
* Obfuscation
* Orwellian
* Persuasion
* Manipulation (psychology)

Activism|

* Advocacy
* group
* Alternative media
* Boycott
* Call-out culture
* Cancel culture
* Civil disobedience
* Culture jamming
* Demonstrations
* Deplatforming
* Grassroots
* Guerrilla communication
* Hacktivism
* Internet
* Media
* Occupations
* Petitions
* Protests
* Youth

Advertising|

* Billboards
* False
* Infomercials
* Mobiles
* Modeling
* Radio
* Sex
* Slogans
* Testimonials
* TV
* Criticism of advertising
* Annoyance factor

Censorship and
Media regulation|

* Books
* Broadcast law
* Burying of scholars
* Catch and kill
* Corporate
* Cover-ups
* Euphemism
* Films
* Historical negationism
* Internet
* Political
* Religious
* Self

Hoaxing|

* Alternative facts
* April Fools'
* Deepfake
* audio
* Fake news
* websites
* Fakelore
* False document
* Fictitious entries
* Firehose of falsehood
* Forgery
* Gaslighting
* List
* Literary
* Lying press
* Photograph manipulation
* Racial
* Urban legend
* Virus
* Video manipulation

Marketing|

* Branding
* Loyalty
* Product
* Product placement
* Publicity
* Research
* Word of mouth

News media|

* Agenda-setting
* Broadcasting
* Circus
* Cycle
* Emotive conjugation
* False balance
* Infotainment
* Managing
* Narcotizing dysfunction
* Newspeak
* Pseudo-event
* Scrum
* Sensationalism
* Tabloid journalism

Political campaigning|

* Advertising
* Astroturfing
* Attack ad
* Canvassing
* Character assassination
* Dog whistle
* Election promises
* Lawn signs
* Party platforms (or manifestos)
* Name recognition
* Negative
* Push polling
* Smear campaign
* Wedge issue

Propaganda|

* Bandwagon
* Big lie
* Crowd manipulation
* Disinformation
* Fearmongering
* Framing
* Indoctrination
* Loaded language
* National mythology
* Rally 'round the flag effect
* Techniques

Psychological warfare|

* Airborne leaflets
* False flag
* Fifth column
* Information (IT)
* Lawfare
* Political
* Public diplomacy
* Sedition
* Subversion

Public relations|

* Cult of personality
* Doublespeak
* Non-apology apology
* Reputation management
* Slogans
* Sound bites
* Spin
* Transfer
* Understatement
* Weasel words
* Corporate propaganda

Sales|

* Cold calling
* Door-to-door
* Pricing
* Product demonstrations
* Promotion
* Spaving
* Promotional merchandise
* Telemarketing

Related|

* Influence-for-hire
* Media bias
* United States
* Media concentration
* Media democracy
* Media ecology
* Media ethics
* Media franchise
* Media influence
* Media proprietor

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Media and human factors

* Cognitive psychology
* Externality
* Evolutionary psychology
* Behavioral modernity
* Cognition
* Mismatch
* Media psychology
* Media studies
* Social psychology

Media practices|

* Betteridge's law of headlines
* Gatekeeping
* Infotainment
* Human-interest story
* Junk food news
* Least objectionable program
* Soft media
* Media bias
* Media manipulation
* Pink-slime journalism
* Propaganda
* Public relations
* Missing white woman syndrome
* News values
* Sensationalism
* Hot take
* Spiking
* Tabloid television
* Yellow journalism

Attention|

* Attention economy
* Attention inequality
* Attention management
* Attention span
* Chumbox
* Clickbait
* Cognitive miser
* Low information voter
* Digital zombie
* Phubbing
* Doomscrolling
* Human multitasking
* Media multitasking
* Mobile phones and driving safety
* Smartphones and pedestrian safety
* Texting while driving
* Influence-for-hire
* Infodemic
* Information explosion
* Information overload
* Information pollution
* Information–action ratio
* Rage farming
* Screen time
* Binge-watching
* Television consumption
* Sticky content

Cognitive bias/
Conformity|

* Availability cascade
* Availability heuristic
* Bandwagon effect
* Confirmation bias
* Crowd psychology
* Mobbing
* Moral panic
* Mean world syndrome
* Negativity bias
* Peer pressure
* Social-desirability bias
* Social influence bias
* Spiral of silence

Digital divide/
Political polarization|

* Algorithmic radicalization
* Youth
* Echo chamber
* Fake news website
* Post-truth politics
* United States
* Filter bubble
* Knowledge divide
* Knowledge gap hypothesis
* Political polarization in the United States
* Social media use in politics
* United States
* 2016 U.S. presidential election
* 2020 U.S. presidential election

Related topics|

* Computer rage
* Criticism of Facebook
* 2021 Facebook company files leak
* Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal
* Criticism of Netflix
* Cultural impact of TikTok
* Digital media use and mental health
* Effects of violence in mass media
* Fascination with death
* Griefer
* Mass shooting contagion
* Psychological effects of Internet use
* Sealioning
* Social aspects of television
* Social bot
* Social impact of YouTube
* Technophilia
* Neophile
* Technophobia
* Violence and video games

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