Lily Chang

Influence operations are coordinated efforts to shape opinions, emotions, decisions, or behaviors of a target audience. They combine messaging, social engineering, and often technical means to change how people think, talk, vote, buy, or act. Influence operations can be conducted by states, political organizations, corporations, ideological groups, or criminal networks. The intent ranges from persuasion and distraction to deception, disruption, or erosion of trust in institutions.Actors and motivationsThe operators that wield influence include:State actors: intelligence services or political units seeking strategic advantage, foreign policy goals, or domestic control.Political campaigns and consultants: groups aiming to win elections or shift public debate.Commercial…