The Dark Art of Social Media Manipulation The recent expose on Elephant Clipping, a social media campaign aimed at promoting Republican values in the US, has shed light on a disturbing trend: large scale manipulation of people's attention through "clipping" operations.
These outfits pay individuals to chop up videos into bite sized pieces, often using proxy servers and fake accounts, with the goal of going viral online.
Elephant Clipping may seem like just another example of astroturfing – orchestrated messaging designed to look like genuine grassroots support.