The propaganda algorithm - by Francesco Gadaleta

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The propaganda algorithm<br>How your mind gets hacked without you noticing<br>Gadaleta's profile" class="pencraft pc-display-contents pc-reset"> Gadaleta" class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-width-36 pc-height-36 pc-justifyContent-center pc-alignItems-center pc-position-relative pc-reset bg-secondary-UUD3_J flex-auto-j3S2WA outline-detail-vcQLyr pc-borderRadius-full overflow-hidden-WdpwT6 sizing-border-box-DggLA4 container-TAtrWj"> Gadaleta's avatar" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZrDO!,w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fb10a92-32ee-4abf-ba49-1ff6eda16563_1080x1105.jpeg 1x, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZrDO!,w_72,h_72,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fb10a92-32ee-4abf-ba49-1ff6eda16563_1080x1105.jpeg 2x, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZrDO!,w_108,h_108,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fb10a92-32ee-4abf-ba49-1ff6eda16563_1080x1105.jpeg 3x" width="36" height="36" draggable="false" class="img-OACg1c object-fit-cover-u4ReeV pencraft pc-reset"/>

Francesco Gadaleta<br>May 26, 2026

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TL;DR: Modern propaganda isn’t random noise. It’s a repeatable, engineered algorithm that starts with ideology, weaponizes identity, and manufactures conflict. Once you see the pattern, you can’t unsee it.

The Algorithm Starts Before You Open Your Phone

Most people think propaganda is about lying. It isn’t. The best propaganda is mostly true. It selects, frames, and amplifies real events in a specific sequence designed to produce a predictable emotional response.<br>Smart manipulators don’t invent reality. They curate it.<br>I’ve worked in environments where information warfare is a design discipline, not an accident. The pattern is consistent across regimes, political movements, and media empires: the same five-step loop, running continuously, targeting your identity before your reasoning.

The Loop: Five Steps

Here’s the algorithm, laid out plainly:<br>┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐<br>│ THE PROPAGANDA LOOP │<br>│ │<br>│ 1. SELECT AN IDEOLOGY │<br>│ (a value system with a clear enemy) │<br>│ │ │<br>│ ▼ │<br>│ 2. INJECT INTO IDENTITY │<br>│ ("people like us believe X") │<br>│ │ │<br>│ ▼ │<br>│ 3. MANUFACTURE A THREAT │<br>│ (find or exaggerate the enemy) │<br>│ │ │<br>│ ▼ │<br>│ 4. FRAGMENT THE POPULATION │<br>│ (sort everyone into us / them) │<br>│ │ │<br>│ ▼ │<br>│ 5. ESCALATE CONFLICT │<br>│ (reward outrage, punish nuance) │<br>│ │ │<br>│ └──────────────────────────────┐ │<br>│ ▼ │<br>│ REPEAT WITH NEW │<br>│ THREAT / EVENT │<br>└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘<br>Each iteration tightens the loop. The population fragments further. The manipulator gains control by being the only one who can “resolve” the conflict they created.

Step 1: Ideology as the Attack Surface

Ideology is chosen not for its truth value but for its divisibility . A good propaganda ideology must have two properties: it must feel morally self-evident to insiders, and it must make outsiders look dangerous.<br>Left vs. right. Globalist vs. patriot. Science denier vs. establishment shill. The specific content barely matters. What matters is the binary structure.<br>Once people self-sort into the binary, their identity is now load-bearing. Changing your mind feels like losing yourself.

Step 2: Identity Fusion

This is the critical step that most analyses skip. Ideology alone doesn’t control behavior. Fused identity does.<br>The manipulator ties the ideology to something the target already values: family, nation, religion, professional identity. Now the ideology isn’t an opinion you hold. It’s who you are.<br>Psychologists call this identity-protective cognition. Once a belief is fused with identity, contradicting evidence doesn’t change minds. It triggers defensive processing. People get angrier and more entrenched.<br>The 2016 and 2020 US election cycles are textbook examples: both sides genuinely believed the other was an existential threat, not a political disagreement. The very same approach is being taken by Meloni, Italy prime ministress, in her communication strategy, just on different topics among which immigration and security.

Step 3: The Manufactured Threat

You don’t need to fabricate the enemy. You find a real event, strip the context, amplify it, and repeat it until it defines the entire outgroup.<br>A crime committed by one immigrant becomes evidence of what all immigrants are. A corrupt politician becomes proof that the entire party is corrupt. A researcher who questions a study becomes a denier of the entire field.<br>The threat doesn’t need to be proportionate. It needs to be vivid, emotional, and repeatable. That’s what gets shared.

Step 4: Fragmentation at Scale

Social media is not the cause of this. It’s the...