Adversarial Propaganda: How Enemies Target the U.S. to Fuel Division

Abstract This article explores how foreign enemies of the United States target American citizens with propaganda intended to fuel societal division. It reviews propaganda conceptually, discusses individual, group, and cultural factors that make the United States is uniquely vulnerable to false propaganda, and details the processes and mechanisms by which adversarial propaganda attempts to create false narratives and perpetuate half-truths in the digital domain. It concludes with a discussion on how to mitigate adversarial propaganda’s effects.