Disinformation For Hire: The Rise of PR Firms Selling Online Manipulation

A global industry of PR and marketing firms is now offering services that deploy fake accounts and false narratives for clients looking to manipulate public opinion online.

In a partnership with the Reporter, an investigative news site in Taiwan, BuzzFeed News uncovered a burgeoning industry of public relations and marketing firms that specialize in online manipulation. One of the key figures in this realm is Peng Kuan Chin, who showcased his technology designed for swaying public opinion.

Using his phone, Peng highlighted the capabilities of his 'Content Farm Automatic Collection System,' which autonomously scrapes Chinese articles and reconfigures them into new content. His system generates a growing number of articles that are then disseminated by controlled websites and thousands of fake social media accounts, flooding news feeds and search results with manipulated information.

"I developed this for manipulating public opinion," Peng stated, emphasizing the efficiency of automation and artificial intelligence in generating traffic and publicity far quicker than human efforts.

Dressed in Adidas Yeezy sneakers and a gold Rolex, Peng spoke from his office in Taichung, which was adorned with feng shui items, including a money frog and lucky bamboo. A riot gun, intended for recreational use, was also present on his desk.

Peng's background includes sending spam emails at the age of 14 and assisting in the 2018 reelection campaign for Najib Razak, the former prime minister of Malaysia. His clientele consists of various companies, brands, political parties, and candidates across Asia. "Customers have money, and I don't care what they buy," he remarked, referring to the end-to-end online manipulation services he provides, which can significantly influence votes, sales, and public perceptions.

While Peng's technology is unique, the existence of PR firms that offer similar services is widespread. The industry has evolved since the disinformation campaigns of 2016, characterized by Macedonian spammers and Russian trolls, to a more sophisticated model where communications professionals offer propaganda operations for hire to anyone who can pay.

A review by BuzzFeed News found that since 2011, at least 27 online information operations have been linked to PR or marketing firms, with 19 of those occurring in 2019 alone. Recently, Twitter removed over 5,000 accounts associated with a state-backed information operation in Saudi Arabia, attributed to the marketing firm Smaat, while Facebook dismantled numerous accounts connected to foreign interference on behalf of Georgia's ruling party, linked to the advertising agency Panda.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, highlighted the growing threat posed by what he termed 'the professionalization of deception.' He noted that while deception and influence operations have existed for some time, there has been a rise in firms that base their business model around deceit.

Peng's sophisticated methods are mirrored by numerous other black PR practitioners globally. Recent revelations regarding Saudi Arabia and Georgia have been part of a larger pattern of takedowns and investigations into marketing firms in countries including Israel, Egypt, the UAE, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, and Poland.

Cindy Otis, a former CIA officer and author of 'True or False: A CIA Analyst's Guide to Spotting Fake News,' pointed out that the information operations of nation-states like Russia and Iran have created a template for financially motivated individuals and groups to exploit disinformation.

The Archimedes Group, an Israeli black PR firm, has created extensive networks of fake Facebook pages and accounts worldwide. The firm has boasted about its tactics, including managing a fake fact-checking page for an election in Mali and running misleading pages in Nigeria to identify and later target supporters of a specific politician.

In Ukraine, the PR agency Pragmatico employed young individuals to generate positive comments about clients using fake Facebook accounts. Similarly, in Poland, Cat@Net operated networks of fake Twitter accounts, often hiring staff with disabilities to work from home at below-market rates due to government subsidies. Investigative reporting has also linked Cat@Net to one of Poland's leading PR agencies, Art-Media, although the latter denied any connection.

A scandal in Puerto Rico involved former governor Ricardo Rosselló, who was found to be part of a Telegram group where a consultant from marketing firm KOI appeared to direct social media campaigns that promoted pro-government messages and attacked opponents, contributing to Rosselló's resignation amidst public outrage.

Peng's career trajectory illustrates the evolution of online manipulation from individual efforts to organized agencies that openly market their services. At just 14, he developed an email spam program that became widely known in Taiwan. By high school, he had created software to spam internet message boards, which he marketed through sensational ads.

By 2011, a TV singing competition in Taiwan saw his alma mater's performer receiving over 41 million online votes, nearly double the population of Taiwan, with the school confirming they sought Peng's assistance for the campaign.

Since 2013, Peng has refined his 'Content Farm Automatic Collection System,' enabling clients to inundate targeted online spaces with AI-generated content to manipulate search results. He achieved this by acquiring various social media and SEO manipulation services available on Taobao, a major Chinese e-commerce platform.

While Peng's approach is based on automation, many black PR firms rely on manual labor to achieve similar ends. For instance, investigative reporter Vasil Bidun described his experience working for Pragmatico in Kyiv, where he and other employees logged into fake accounts to influence election-related discussions. The aim, he noted, was to elicit emotional reactions from readers, even if they recognized the comments as inauthentic.

Two days prior to the publication of Bidun's undercover report, Facebook announced the removal of 168 accounts, 149 pages, and 79 groups linked to Pragmatico, revealing that the firm had spent $1.6 million on ads in the Ukrainian market.

The black PR landscape remains robust across Eastern Europe. Investigative reporter Katarzyna Pruszkiewicz spent six months undercover with Cat@Net, which she described as a troll farm despite the company's assertion of being a legitimate PR agency. Her work involved promoting state media and supporting left-wing politicians while attacking government decisions.

Cat@Net's strategy included hiring individuals with disabilities to minimize labor costs while qualifying for state subsidies. Following Pruszkiewicz's revelations, the Polish government initiated an investigation into the company for its disability benefit claims, yet many of Cat@Net's fake accounts remain active on social media.

In the Philippines, the intersection of marketing and politics has led to the proliferation of black PR services. Facebook has taken action against Twinmark Media Enterprises and Nic Gabunada, a key figure in President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign, for engaging in coordinated inauthentic activity.

As black PR services have proven lucrative, many firms feel compelled to offer these services to stay competitive, with one agency director describing the temptation to engage in unethical practices for profit. Jonathan Corpus Ong, an academic who studies the phenomenon, warned that the Philippines serves as a cautionary example for other nations where disinformation within the PR industry has become normalized.

Ong pointed out that PR firms often use euphemisms to mask their disinformation activities, lending an air of legitimacy to their operations and providing politicians with plausible deniability.

The rise of black PR firms has caught the attention of the global PR industry, which has faced its own ethical challenges. In 2017, the Public Relations and Communications Association expelled the firm Bell Pottinger for inciting racial tensions in South Africa, highlighting issues that have plagued the industry.

Global PR agencies are increasingly focusing on ethical practices. Jill Tannenbaum, the chief communications and marketing officer for Weber Shandwick, emphasized the need to engage audiences with truthful campaigns, even in competitive markets where dishonest tactics may be common.

Following the Bell Pottinger scandal, the International Communications Consultancy Organisation established the Helsinki Declaration, which outlines principles for ethical communication professionals, emphasizing the responsible use of social media and the rejection of fake news dissemination.

Francis Ingham, director general of the PRCA, lamented that the actions of black PR firms tarnish the reputation of ethical practitioners, who are frustrated by the stigma attached to their field.