Search Engine Manipulation to Spread Pro-Kremlin Propaganda

<strong>README</strong> These datasets and R script are to generate the visualizations used in "Search Engine Manipulation: SEO to Spread Kremlin-Aligned Disinformation"<br> <strong>DATA</strong><br> Data were collected from the Ahrefs (ahrefs.com) dashboard on Feb 21, 2022. Any re-use of this data must cite Ahrefs as the source. We provide two data files: <br> 1) ora_backlinks.csv (referring domain network extracted from Ahrefs)<br> 2) ora_keyphrases.csv (keyword network extracted from Ahrefs) ora_rd.csv contains: <br> 'source' : (think tank domain) 'target' : (backlinking domain) 'weight' : (total # of backlinks) 'network' : (ru_tt_rd = Russia, us_tt_rd = US, ds_rd = Pseudo) ora_keyphrases.csv contains: `source`: think tank domain `target`: top key phrases `position`: Google's ranking for that domain for that term `volume`: ahrefs estimated organic daily traffic `group`: Think tank group <strong>R Script</strong> This script generates visuals of top backlinkers and backlink recipients in the think tank network. It also constructs and visualizes the minimum overlap network for referring domains present in the paper. This code was created using R version 4.1.1 (2021-08-10) -- "Kick Things". To run this code, you'll first need to install the libraries at the beginning of the script. Once that is done, open the script and modify the path to the input file (ora_rd.csv): `rd_data_el` and modify the path to the output file: `output_dir`. The script can then be run line-by-line in Rstudio or by typing `Rscript SEM_visuals.R` in the terminal after setting paths. <br> <strong>Citation</strong> How to cite (will be updated upon acceptance): <br> ```<br> Williams, E. M. &amp; Carley, M. C., (2023). Search Engine Manipulation to Spread Pro-Kremlin Propaganda. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, Volume #(Issue #). Received: Month Xth, 2022. Accepted: Month Xth, 20XX. Published: Month Xth, 2022.<br> ``` <br> <br> <br> <br>