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combines art practice and media studies to research collective imagination and emotions appropriation in technosocial systems
Mark




infocry
update, PL, 2025


Specially for BW_Lab within OFF Biennale, Infocry was updated with research on 198,000 comments on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram between April 1 and May 1, 2025. At least 15,500 of these comments were written by accounts showing signs of authentic behavior (high posting frequency, dissemination of inauthentic narratives, links to other compromised accounts, etc.).

For the update, we collected comments mentioning Polish presidential candidates, as well as comments that did not directly mention candidates but were left under posts mentioning them. The data was collected using the Osavul information threat research platform.
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Most of the comments relate to political campaigning, support for certain candidates, and accusations against others -- such content was not the subject of our analysis. We focused on researching narratives that amplify existing Polish social problems, depriving the community of the right to organic political discussion. Among the most popular narratives, we identified the following:

- Poles must defend their dignity before other nations because they are not respected enough
- The migration problem must be solved first
- The war in Ukraine is not a Ukrainian problem, and the Polish government must stop supporting Ukraine financially and with weapons
- German influence in the country is “growing again,” and Poles should take care to protect their national interests
- Citizens need to “wake up” to regain control.

Such behavior is aimed at finding and stirring up problems that can be characteristic of any community and that can usually be resolved in a democratic manner: through discussion based on mutual respect. However, the identified campaigns push communities toward radicalization by targeting their political and social pain points. Some of these accounts repeatedly post identical opinions within communities, presenting them as the voices of those communities, sometimes in unison, until real users begin to repeat them.

Osavul screenshot

Others aim to amplify existing radical voices both within and outside communities to portray these communities as already highly radicalized and to pressure other actors outside them.

Osavul screenshot

   
Such campaigns are technically similar to classic marketing sales funnels, which identify audience needs and then use them to achieve the desired action, i.e., a purchase. In the case of political campaigns, the narrowest part of the funnel is the occupation, firstly emotional and then physical occupation of your hometown -- this is an optional and (un)believable outcome of such activity.

The update became a part of ongoing artistic research on emotional infrustructures within cyberwar.


Participated / Брав участь:
Mark

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