Political Narrative Manipulation

The cluster focuses on discussions about how political actors, media, and groups use disinformation, sensationalism, extreme voices, and controversy to shape public opinion, steer discourse, influence elections, and push agendas while discrediting opposition.

➡️ Stable 0.7x Politics & Society
4,049
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#6673
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
9
2009
19
2010
43
2011
49
2012
73
2013
116
2014
87
2015
109
2016
168
2017
274
2018
255
2019
291
2020
396
2021
532
2022
407
2023
389
2024
251
2025
530
2026
53

Keywords

USG THIS US MZ DC ISIS FUD PR voices narrative discourse agenda political public campaign attention discredit partisan

Sample Comments

lotsofpulp Mar 29, 2025 View on HN

Maybe publicity? The group in charge knows they can do no wrong, and I would bet their voters liked the rhetoric in the chat. Maybe they use controversy as a tool to keep people distracted (or even lead them to check out).

sharperguy Jun 12, 2023 View on HN

I believe that these 'nutjobs' were promoted to the forefront of popular discussion for purposes of sensationalism and to discredit more careful dissenting voices by association.In many ways, it makes sense to try to get the entire population on board with a single narrative, in order to have a coherent response to an emerging situation. On the other hand, it opens the doors to corruption by leaving those in charge with no credible voices willing to criticize or draw attention to th

dugluak Mar 14, 2019 View on HN

use case is to spread misconceptions in the society (that's what bad guys want right?) in an automated way. especially during elections.

now_l93 Dec 6, 2017 View on HN

Deceiving the public with a fake narrative of popular support harms society.

president Sep 18, 2020 View on HN

Looks like they've struck again ;). These people don't want discourse or facts, they just want to shape the narrative. Shame on them.

im3w1l Nov 24, 2025 View on HN

Probably but it's also more complicated than such a simplistic analysis. I think they want to jam the communications in general. Make big problems seem small. Make small problems seem big. Make people suspect legitimate debaters of being trolls.

mcny Jan 14, 2026 View on HN

It is possible they were mistaken. The extreme voices get magnified at these things, I'd guess.Maybe it is an attempt to slow the shift in the Overton window?

oselhn Oct 13, 2015 View on HN

Thats their strategy. They do not need proofs just spread confusion to prevent sane discussion.

akomtu Dec 17, 2022 View on HN

I think the goal is to anchor the discourse around "the gov is censoring speech" and let high-rank politicians talk about it openly, since now they are backed by undeniable facts. A few weeks ago anyone auggesting the gov is censoring twitter would be dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. Now anyone who says the opposite will be seen as a fool or a shill. The goal has been achieved, in other words.

pharmakom Jan 28, 2023 View on HN

Reads like targeted disinformation. Always interesting to see how people attempt to steer public discourse.