Thefirehose of falsehood, also known asfirehosing, is apropaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (likenews andsocial media) without regard for truth or consistency. The firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model forRussian propaganda under Russian PresidentVladimir Putin.
Though similar in some ways, the American tactic offlooding the zone with misleading or false statements is distinct from firehosing in that flooding involves pushing out initiatives and policies at an overwhelming rate, rather than specifically falsehoods. The tactics may be combined.
While difficult to counter, theGerman Marshall Fund,RAND, and military strategists have described techniques to respond to the firehose of falsehood, generally involving preempting it with good information, strategically reducing or removingmisinformation, and teachingdigital literacy.
TheRAND Corporation coined the name "firehose of falsehood" in 2016, describing a technique it observed inRussian propaganda that combines a very large number of communications and disregard for the truth.[1] Partially, it is distinguished from the olderSoviet propaganda techniques used during theCold War by the much larger quantity of messages and channels enabled by the advent of theinternet and changes in how people consume news information.[citation needed]
According to research published inFrontiers in Political Science:[2]
When leaders employ a firehose of falsehoods, citizens retreat into cynicism and the belief that the truth is fundamentally unknowable. If the truth is unknowable, reasoned debate is pointless because there are no agreed-upon facts. ... When reasoned democratic discourse is not possible because there are no agreed upon facts, all that is left is the political exercise of raw power.
Use of the firehose of falsehood has been shown to be "consistent with political psychology research showing that epistemic and existential uncertainty motivate the adoption of conservative and authoritarian beliefs."[2]
The immediate aim of the firehose of falsehood technique is to entertain, confuse, and overwhelm the audience and to create disinterest in or opposition tofact-checking and accurate reporting, so the propaganda may be delivered to the public more quickly than better sources.[1][3] The approach's success flouts the conventional wisdom that communication is more persuasive when it is truthful, credible, and non-contradictory.[1]
According to RAND, the firehose of falsehood model has four distinguishing factors:
The high volume of messages, the use of multiple channels, and the use ofinternet bots and fake accounts are effective because people are more likely to believe a story when it appears to have been reported by multiple sources.[1] For example, in addition to the recognizably-Russian news sourceRT, Russia disseminates propaganda using dozens of proxy websites whose connection to RT are "disguised or downplayed".[4] People also are more likely to believe a story when they think many others believe it, especially if those others belong to a group with which they identify. Thus, a group of operatives can influence a person's opinion by creating the false impression that a majority of that person's neighbors support a given view.[1]
The Russian government has used the "firehose of falsehood" at least as early as itsRusso-Georgian War in 2008.[1] It has continued to use it in itswar with Ukraine, including theannexation of Crimea and theprelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1][5] There also have been Russian campaigns targeting other "near abroad"post-Soviet states and the threeBaltic states ofLithuania,Latvia, andEstonia.[1][6]
It continued to use it as part of itsinterference in the 2016 United States elections.[6][3]
Firehosing also has been a feature of Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Western Europe and the United States, including as part of theinterference in the 2016 United States elections.[6][3] In 2019, according to the science writerWilliam J. Broad ofThe New York Times, the propaganda networkRT America began a "firehose of falsehood" campaign toconvince Americans that 5G phones were a health hazard, even as Putin was ordering the launch of 5G networks in Russia.[7]
Steve Bannon, Trump's2016 presidential campaign CEO and chief strategist during the first seven months of Trump's first presidency, said that the press, rather thanDemocrats, was Trump's primary adversary and "the way to deal with them is toflood the zone with shit."[8][9] In February 2025, a public relations CEO stated that the "flood the zone" tactic was designed to make sure no single action or event stands out above the rest by having them occur at a rapid pace, thus preventing the public from keeping up and preventing controversy or outrage over a specific action or event.[10]
According toMother Jones magazine editorMonika Bauerlein, the firehose technique is increasingly being used against the press by American politicians. She warns readers to expect an increase in the use of several related tactics: the lawsuit threat, the "fake news" denial, and thead hominem attack.[11]
Several publications have characterized the communication strategy ofDonald Trump as a firehose of falsehood.[12][13][14] His use of the firehose technique during theJune 27, 2024, debate broadcast by CNN was noted by analysts such asHeather Cox Richardson, who labeled Trump's performance asGish galloping,[15] andDan Froomkin, who provided a similar analysis.[16]
The technique has also been used by activists, such as by theanti-vaccine movement to spread debunked theories about the supposed dangers of vaccination.[17]
According to the author and former military intelligence officerJohn Loftus, Iran has been using similar methods to incite hatred against Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel. He claims that some fake news that is attributed to Russia, actually was planted in the Western press by Iran.[18]
During Indonesia's 2019 presidential race, the incumbent,Joko Widodo, accusedPrabowo Subianto's campaign team of disseminating hateful propaganda aided by foreign consultants and cited "Russian propaganda" and the "firehose of falsehood" model.[19]
According to cybersecurity companyRecorded Future, the technique has been used by theChinese government in an attempt to undermine the credibility ofBBC in response to the BBC reporting on thepersecution of Uyghurs in China.[20]
Conventionalcounterpropaganda efforts are ineffective against this technique. As researchers at RAND said, "Don't expect to counter the firehose of falsehood with the squirt gun of truth." They suggest:
Researchers at theGerman Marshall Fund suggest, among other things, being careful not to repeat or amplify the original false claim;repeating a false story, even to refute it, makes people more likely to believe it.[21] Security expertBruce Schneier recommends teachingdigital literacy as part of an 8-stepinformation operationskill chain.[22] In "How We Win the Competition for Influence" (2019), military strategists Wilson C. Blythe and Luke T. Calhoun stress the importance of consistent messaging. They compare information operations to other weapons used by the military to target an enemy and achieve a desired result: "The information environment is an inherent part of today's battlefields."[23]
Another way to combatdisinformation is to respond quickly as events unfold and to be the first to tell the story. An example of this occurred in February 2018, when Syrian pro-regime forces began shellingSyrian Democratic Forces nearKhasham and coalition forces responded in self-defense. TheCombined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) immediately published a news release entitled "Unprovoked attack by Syrian pro-regime forces prompts coalition defensive strikes." In response to the news, reporters from around the world flooded the CJTF–OIR with queries, which allowed CJTF–OIR to establish the facts before Russian news outlets couldspin the story as they had in 2017.[23]
