Emma L. Briant is Associate Professor of News and Political Communication at Monash University, Melbourne. She researches contemporary propaganda and information warfare and previously authored Bad News for Refugees (with Greg Philo and Pauline Donald, 2013) and Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism: Strategies for Global Change (2015).Vian Bakir is Professor in Journalism and Political Communication at Bangor University, UK. Expert in the impact of the digital age on propaganda, disinformation and dataveillance, her most recent book is Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods (with Andrew McStay, 2022).

• List of Figures and TablesList of AbbreviationsNotes on Contributors Part I: Theoretical, Conceptual and Historical Background to the Influence Industry1 Introducing the Influence IndustryVian Bakir and Emma L. Briant 2 Concepts for Understanding the Influence IndustryEmma L. Briant and Vian Bakir 3 Situating the Digital Influence IndustryEmma L. Briant and Vian Bakir 4 Techniques and Transformation in the Digital Influence IndustryVian Bakir and Emma L. Briant 5 The Economics of Social Media Manipulation: Insights into Digital Influence Mercenaries' Tactics and ImpactJames Forest 6 Masspersonal Social Engineering and the Evolution of the Influence IndustryRobert W. Gehl and Sean T. Lawson 7 The analogue-era Influence Industry and South Africa’s Quest for Reputational Security, 1948-1994: Buying Friends for Apartheid.Nicholas J. Cull Part II: Micro-Practices and Social Impacts of the Influence Industry: International Case Studies8 Cambridge Analytica's Online Disinformation and Propaganda in Nigeria: Does Local Culture Reveal Limits in Persuasion and Influencer Activities?Shola Olabode 9 Russian Active Measures in the 2016 US Presidential Election: 'Useful Idiots' and Intelligence AgenciesStephen McCombie and Allon J. Uhlmann 10 The Kremlin’s Influence Industry and its Use of Lawfare to Undermine DemocracyAlexandra Chalupa 11 Deception Supply Chains in the Middle East, 2010–2023: A Playbook of Social Media Manipulation, Disinformation and Influence OperationsMarc Owen Jones 12 Medical Populism, Nationalism, and Parody: Unmasking Digital Dissent in Turkey’s COVID-19 LandscapeAlkım Yalın, Nora Suren and Jonathan Corpus Ong 13 Understanding Conspiracy Theories as a Business: The Case of HumanitadAlexander Beunder and Emma L. Briant 14 Digital ‘Guerrillas’ and the Changing Influence Industry’s Impact on Latin American Democracies: Lessons from ChileMarcelo Santos and Ximena Orchard 15 Brazil's Far-Right 'Media Literacy' Campaign: Delegitimizing The Press For ProfitRose Marie Santini and Débora Salles 16 Weaponizing WhatsApp: A Case Study of a Digitally Amplified Institutionalized Riot System in IndiaBenjamin Grazda Part III: The Future of the Influence Industry: Rights, Ethics and Governance for Emerging Technologies17 Why the Influence Industry MattersVian Bakir and Emma L. Briant 18 Ethics for the Future of Military Information OperationsMark Zelcer 19 Trust, Truth and ‘Organised Lying’: A Critical Study of The Edelman Trust BarometerLee Edwards20 Local Civil Society and the International Influence Industry: Preparing for Elections with Practice-led ResearchAmber Macintyre and Stephanie Hankey 21 Combatting the Influence Industry within Surveillance Capitalism: The Potentials and Pitfalls of Personal Information Management SystemsVian Bakir Alexander Laffer and Andrew McStay 22 Guarding against Automated Empathy Attacks on Ontological SecurityVian Bakir and Andrew McStay Part IV: Conclusions and Recommendations23 Towards an Ethical Influence IndustryEmma L. Briant and Vian Bakir 24 Researching and Conceptualizing the Influence IndustryEmma L. Briant25 ConclusionEmma L. Briant Index

'This essential and comprehensive volume brings together an impressive range of scholars from across the world to shine a light into one of the most important – but misunderstood – issues of our time.'Rory Cormac, University of Nottingham, UK'At a time when too much scholarly attention is given to the notion that disinformation is but an artifact of algorithms and social media's commercial logic, Emma L. Briant and Vian Bakir remind us of the role of institutionalized political power, what they call in this important volume the influence industry. Powerful industry actors take advantage of technology to shape public perceptions and even behaviors in a struggle for dominance and control. This insightful book is a must-read for those interested in understanding modern digital politics.'Steven Livingston, George Washington University, USA'This invaluable collection gives a sharply-focused analysis of what the as yet under-researched influence industry is. Even more important, it reveals what the industry does – shaping how people think and guiding how they act – through a series of impressive case studies that show how data-driven influence campaigns and practices operate worldwide across commerce, politics and national security. Innovative conceptually, it proposes a new, better way to understand and study propaganda and disinformation. And it offers constructive, practical proposals for countering their effects.'Steven Lukes, New York University, USA'The Routledge Handbook of the Influence Industry is one of the most important contributions in our field in recent times. The editors have done a remarkable job in bringing together a series of works that have effectively opened a new space for reflection and discussion. I have no doubt that it will quickly become a seminal piece that will be quoted and used as a reference by scholars and experts to understand the perversity and the extent of manipulation of the public that have led to disasters such as Brexit and the 2016 election of Donald Trump.'Jairo Lugo-Ocando, University of Sharjah, UAE'This book provides an insightful and timely contribution to understanding the mechanics of influence operations and profits in a complex digital world. It also provides an in-depth knowledge of the actors, technologies and infrastructures that underpin them in a rapidly evolving and increasingly opaque world of influence... The twenty-five chapters spread across four thematic sections make this book an indispensable pedagogical reference tool for students, academia and whistleblowers. The book’s global scope and detailed empirical, in-depth case study approach have positioned it at the nexus of political communication, strategic influence and digital governance, beyond what was once the usual PR and propaganda.'Farhat Asif, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, October 2025'The shift of focus toward the actors of social media influence operations within the global perspective makes the Handbook of the Influence Industry a very refreshing read, showing innovative perspectives and opening completely new venues for influence research.'Sarah Komasová, Media, War and Conflict April 2026 'Overall, the Routledge Handbook of the Influence Industry is a substantial field-shaping reference work. Briant and Bakir successfully reorganize the conceptual architecture for understanding modern propaganda, and they make the infrastructure of digital influence legible for scholars working across research traditions. The volume is an essential reference for students, scholars, and policy makers in sociology, journalism, political science, and communication studies.'Rory Gates, International Journal of Communication 20 (2026)