Source Hacking: Media Manipulation in Practice

Online media manipulators often use specific techniques to hide the source of the false and problematic information they circulate. BKC affiliate Joan Donovan and Brian Friedberg label this strategy “source hacking.” Typically used during breaking news events, source hacking targets journalists and other influential public figures to pick up falsehoods and unknowingly amplify them to the public.

In Source Hacking: Media Manipulation in Practice, Donovan and Friedberg use case studies to illustrate four main techniques of source hacking.

Read the report from Data & Society