Propaganda by Proxy: How Autocrats Use Private Media to Influence Regime Critics

• In Event: Foreign Influence Operations, Propaganda, and Sharp Power

Abstract

Autocrats increasingly control private media outlets through proxies in the business world. Fielding six surveys in four Sub-Saharan African countries, I find that this indirect form of capture has the effect of concealing the regime's control of the media from the public. Across surveys, citizens exhibit lower levels of awareness about the ownership and political affiliations of private media outlets than those of traditional state-owned outlets. In a series of experiments in Tanzania, I document a range of consequences stemming from these knowledge gaps. A consistent finding is that lack of knowledge about private media owners' ties to the government makes regime opponents more likely to trust and consume captured media outlets (Experiments 1 and 2). Lack of knowledge about ownership also appears to make regime opponents more susceptible to the persuasive effects of pro-government news from captured sources (Experiment 3). The results suggest that by channeling propaganda messages through private media outlets, autocrats may reach and persuade audiences that typically avoid and discount pro-government news.

Author

• Bardia Rahmani, Columbia University