Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Illustration: a Cold War intelligence-briefing collage with the Kremlin, Eastern Bloc architecture and a reconnaissance map of Europe.

Techniques

Propaganda techniques and how they work

28 named techniques in four families, from the 1937 Institute for Propaganda Analysis devices to the methods of automated influence campaigns. Each page gives a definition, the tell to look for, and what it is not.

See which techniques travel together

Illustration, not an archive object

Classical

Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937) seven devices and close descendants. Work on emotion, identity, and selective evidence.

Illustration: a torn adhesive label with jagged crimson edges slapped onto a plain gray silhouette shape.Name-callingAttach a loaded label so the audience rejects the target without checking the claim.93 objects · 25 briefsIllustration: an ornate empty seal glowing with sparkling rays around a blank redacted center.Glittering generalitiesVirtue words (freedom, security, the people, science) used as substitutes for a testable claim.75 objects · 20 briefsIllustration: a strong ornate seal pressing its emblem through paper onto a plain blank seal beneath it.TransferBorrow prestige or stigma from a respected or hated symbol and paste it onto the message.125 objects · 63 briefsIllustration: a speech-bubble shape stamped with an official seal of approval, resting on a blank redacted page.TestimonialA named person or institution vouches; the vouch is meant to end checking.18 objects · 11 briefsIllustration: a rolled-up sleeve and a plain work glove on a wooden table, set against blurred ornate institutional seals.Plain folksThe speaker performs ordinary-person identity to make the message feel homegrown.9 objects · 26 briefsIllustration: a leaning stack of playing-card-like redacted panels, most face-down, with only a favorable few turned face-up on top.Card stackingSelect, omit, or order facts so the remaining pile can only be read one way.40 objects · 135 briefsIllustration: a crowd of identical silhouette arrows all pivoting to point the same direction, one holdout arrow left facing the other way.BandwagonTreat popularity, momentum, or 'everyone knows' as proof.27 objects · 3 briefsIllustration: a stark alarm bell under a harsh spotlight, casting a long jagged shadow across a redacted page.Fear appealImminent harm is staged so the audience accepts the offered protection without comparing base rates or alternatives.77 objects · 25 briefsIllustration: a single dark silhouette figure singled out by a spotlight while a crowd of identical pale silhouettes recedes into shadow.ScapegoatingPark blame for a complex harm on a bounded out-group so the in-group stays clean.29 objects · 11 briefs

Rhetorical

Argument-form tricks that survive even when the speaker is named.

Illustration: two redacted documents pointing accusing arrows at each other, each deflecting attention from itself onto the other.WhataboutismAnswer an accusation with a different accusation so the original claim is never tried.2 objects · 3 briefsIllustration: a bold abstract letterform on a card, stretched and pulled out of shape by two opposing arrows.Semantic hijackingCapture a high-prestige or high-stigma word and stretch it until it covers the speaker's preferred set.6 objects · 27 briefsIllustration: a schematic fortress diagram with a small fortified tower beside a much larger, loosely defended courtyard.Motte and baileyAdvance a bold claim; when pressed, retreat to a modest claim; then reoccupy the bold one.Illustration: a balance scale holding two identical stacks of redacted paper, one pan quietly pressed down by a hidden thumb.BothsidesismForce symmetry between unequal evidence piles so the audience treats the question as a tie.1 object · 2 briefsIllustration: a label peeling off a plain jar to reveal a starkly different label underneath.Euphemism / doublespeakReplace a concrete harm or act with a sanitizing or inflating phrase so evaluation never meets the thing.6 objects · 13 briefsIllustration: two abstract silhouette outlines merging into a single fused contour.Identity fusionCollapse checking the claim into betraying the tribe, so method-critique feels like treason.11 objects · 9 briefs

Operational

Campaign architecture: how a message is staged, sourced, or made to look like consensus.

Illustration: a single small document nearly buried under a toppling stack of identical blank redacted papers.Flooding the zoneSaturate the available attention so a preferred frame, or chaos itself, crowds out slower checking.25 briefsIllustration: a murky ink-stained document passing through a filter and emerging clean into a neat labeled folder.Narrative launderingPass a state or factional message through a more legitimate-looking surface so origin is hard to see.3 objects · 97 briefsIllustration: dozens of identical rubber stamps arranged in a ring, each pressing the same checkmark onto blank paper.Manufactured consensusCreate the appearance that independent voices independently arrived at the same conclusion.1 object · 85 briefsIllustration: a dark-to-light gradient bar with a small aperture frame sliding steadily along it.Overton window shiftingMove a previously unsayable position into the window of the discussable by repetition, extremes, or institutional blessing.12 briefsIllustration: a heavy vault door cracked open just enough to light a few loose papers, while a larger stack stays locked in shadow.Limited hangoutRelease a partial, survivable truth to block a larger one.1 object · 2 briefsIllustration: an oversized magnifying glass over a blank redacted page, revealing only a tiny sliver of fine print in one corner.Disclosure theaterA technically present disclosure that does not travel with the content the audience actually sees.56 briefsIllustration: a pointed accusing finger reflected in a cracked mirror, the accusation aimed back at its own source.Accusation in a mirrorAccuse the target of the method or crime you are preparing or running, so their warning sounds like a confession.1 object · 15 briefs

Computational

Volume, automation, synthetic production, or poisoning of ranking and retrieval systems.

Illustration: several fire hoses spraying overlapping streams of illegible ink and text across a page.FirehosingHigh-volume, high-velocity, multi-channel output that does not care about internal consistency; the goal is exhaustion, not persuasion of one claim.1 object · 11 briefsIllustration: plastic astroturf blades pushing up through cracked concrete, with identical rubber stamps scattered among the blades.AstroturfingFake or rented grassroots: personas, pages, or crowds that are not what they claim.3 objects · 82 briefsIllustration: a face-shaped void built from a pixel wireframe mesh, dissolving into digital static at the edges.Synthetic mediaMachine-made or machine-rewritten content presented as human witness, journalism, or research.3 objects · 102 briefsIllustration: a funnel pouring dark ink into a stylized database block, with corrupted glitch-text bleeding out the other side.Corpus poisoningSeed search indices, encyclopedias, or model-facing text so downstream systems repeat the frame as if it were independent research.9 briefsIllustration: a fishing hook baited with a glowing crimson flare, dangling above a sea of grasping abstract hands.Outrage baitCraft the item so the profitable reaction is fury, which then does the distribution.14 briefsIllustration: a ticking clock face whose source-label corner slowly fades to blank while its hands keep moving.Sleeper effectA discounted source is forgotten faster than the claim, so the claim later feels ownerless and true.1 object · 2 briefs