Chapter 15: Further Reading — Political Misinformation and Election Integrity

The following annotated bibliography provides curated starting points for deeper engagement with the major topics in this chapter. Sources are organized thematically, with priority given to foundational works, high-quality empirical research, and accessible summaries.

Foundational Frameworks

1. Wardle, Claire, and Hossein Derakhshan. "Information Disorder: Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy." Council of Europe Report, 2017.

The most widely cited framework for understanding information disorder, introducing the distinction between misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, and providing an analysis of the agents, messages, and interpreters that constitute information disorder events. Essential starting point for anyone working in this field. Freely available from the Council of Europe website.

2. Bennett, W. Lance, and Steven Livingston, eds. The Disinformation Age: Politics, Technology, and Disruptive Communication in the United States. Cambridge University Press, 2021.

A comprehensive edited volume bringing together leading researchers to examine the structural conditions enabling political disinformation in the US. Chapters address the role of partisan media, social media platforms, and political actors. Strong on structural analysis rather than individual cognitive susceptibility.

3. Benkler, Yochai, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts. Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. Oxford University Press, 2018.

A landmark empirical study of information flows during the 2016-2018 period, based on analysis of 1.25 million stories. Challenges the narrative that social media platforms and Russian operations were the primary drivers of political misinformation, arguing instead for the centrality of domestic right-wing media. Methodologically transparent and frequently cited. Open access version available through the Berkman Klein Center.

The Internet Research Agency and Russian Operations

4. US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Report on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 US Election, Volume 2: Russia's Use of Social Media. 116th Congress, 2019.

The authoritative bipartisan congressional report on IRA social media operations, based on data provided directly by the major platforms. Essential primary source for understanding the scale, tactics, and targeting of the operation. Freely available at intelligence.senate.gov.

5. DiResta, Renée, et al. "The Tactics & Tropes of the Internet Research Agency." New Knowledge, 2019. (Prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee.)

The comprehensive independent analysis of IRA social media content commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Provides platform-by-platform breakdowns of the IRA's operations, detailed analysis of the racial targeting strategy, and careful assessment of scale. Includes data on content categories, engagement rates, and targeting. More detailed and analytically rich than the official Senate report for those interested in the specifics of IRA operations.

6. Mueller, Robert. Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election. Volume 1, US Department of Justice, 2019.

Volume 1 of the Mueller Report covers Russian interference operations including the IRA and the GRU hacking operations. The legal document format provides specific sourcing and a high evidentiary standard for claims. Essential primary source for factual claims about the scope and nature of Russian operations.

The "Big Lie" and 2020 Election Misinformation

7. US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Final Report. 117th Congress, December 2022.

The House Select Committee's comprehensive investigation of the events leading to January 6th, 2021. The report documents the stolen election narrative's development and spread, the role of specific political actors, and the events of January 6th itself. Essential for understanding the relationship between sustained misinformation campaigns and political violence. Available at govinfo.gov.

8. Kessler, Glenn, Salvador Rizzo, and Meg Kelly. Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President's Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies. Scribner, 2020.

Compiled by the Washington Post fact-checking team, this volume documents and categorizes Trump's false statements with specific sourcing. Useful as a reference and as a methodological case study in systematic political fact-checking at scale.

Election Misinformation Science

9. Guess, Andrew, Jonathan Nagler, and Joshua Tucker. "Less Than You Think: Prevalence and Predictors of Fake News Dissemination on Facebook." Science Advances 5(1), 2019.

Landmark empirical study finding that sharing of fake news on Facebook was concentrated among a small share of users, predominantly older and conservative. Important both for its findings about distribution patterns and as a methodological template for survey-based misinformation research. Open access.

10. Pennycook, Gordon, and David G. Rand. "The Psychology of Fake News." Trends in Cognitive Sciences 25(5): 388-402, 2021.

A concise and highly readable review of the psychological research on why people believe and share misinformation, addressing motivated reasoning, lazy thinking, and the role of analytical thought. Excellent entry point to the psychological literature on misinformation susceptibility, directly relevant to understanding why election misinformation persists after correction.

Deepfakes and Synthetic Media

11. Paris, Britt, and Joan Donovan. "Deepfakes and Cheap Fakes: The Manipulation of Audio and Visual Evidence." Data & Society, 2019.

An accessible and thorough examination of the spectrum of audio-visual manipulation from low-tech "cheap fakes" to sophisticated deepfakes, with careful discussion of the "liar's dividend" and implications for democratic accountability. The report correctly predicted many developments that have since occurred. Freely available from datasociety.net.

International and Comparative Perspectives

12. Howard, Philip N. Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Journalistic Frauds, and Political Operatives. Yale University Press, 2020.

Drawing on research from the Oxford Computational Propaganda Project, Howard examines political bot operations and coordinated propaganda campaigns across multiple countries. Provides a genuinely comparative perspective on computational propaganda that goes beyond the US focus of most English-language literature.

13. Evangelista, Rafael, and Fernanda Bruno. "WhatsApp and Political Instability in Brazil: Targeted Messages and Political Radicalisation." Internet Policy Review 8(4), 2019.

The most accessible academic analysis of WhatsApp's role in Brazil's 2018 election, combining platform analysis with attention to Brazilian political context. Essential reading for understanding how encrypted messaging platforms create distinct misinformation dynamics. Open access.

Platform Policy and Regulatory Responses

14. Rosen, Guy, and Monika Bickert. "Confronting the Challenges of Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior on Facebook." Facebook (Meta) Policy Report, 2018 (and subsequent updates).

Facebook's own documentation of its coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) policies and enforcement actions. Reading platform self-reporting alongside independent research provides important perspective on what platforms acknowledge, what they claim to have done, and what they leave unaddressed. Subsequent CIB enforcement reports are available at about.fb.com/news/tag/coordinated-inauthentic-behavior.

15. Citron, Danielle Keats, and Robert Chesney. "Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security." California Law Review 107(6): 1753-1819, 2019.

The most comprehensive legal academic analysis of the deepfakes problem as of its publication, covering both privacy dimensions and democracy implications. Discusses potential legal responses including existing and proposed statutes. Still largely current in its legal analysis, though technology has advanced rapidly since publication.