Anna Enghelhardt studies technological infrastructures, paying special attention to the production of knowledge and objectivity in the online spaces of post-truth. In her multi-part work Machinic Infrastructures of Truth she envisages the production of fake content as a cyberwar and addresses it in a series of interviews, visual representations, and tactics for hacking the systems that are designed to verify data and analyze user behaviour.
In today’s saturated cyberscape of post-truth politics, social media platforms use blue verification marks as guarantees of authentic content, supposedly to help users discriminate within the binary rating system of “true” and “fake.”
As a researcher in the field of cyberwarfare, these verification systems are an entry point that allows me to reverse engineer the mechanics of how content becomes deemed “fake.” This process depends on the scalability, also referred to as virality, of the content—a factor which, when analyzed, reveals the relational nature of the system.
To investigate the fluid identity of what is considered fake, I map the “Machinic Infrastructures of Truth” (M.I.T.), the term I use to define the back-end of verification systems powered by interconnected automated trackers. These systems measure users’ attention through cookies, transparent image files, geolocation signals, and other devices. Yet, by turning their engagement into a standardized commodity, M.I.T. establish new protocols that alter the behaviour they aim to measure. Although these back-end infrastructures were initially designed to capture and retain users, they now generate the feedback loops of misinformation and polarization that are impossible to control by the platforms that profit from them.
(b. 1994, Kostroma) is a digital artist. She has a master’s degree in Research Architecture from Goldsmiths, University of London (2019). Recent projects include the video essay Ornament, the project Adversarial Infrastructure, and the platform Intermodal Terminal. She lives and works in London.
