* **Summary**: Parody is a form of artistic expression that imitates the style or characteristics of a particular work, genre, or individual in a humorous or satirical way, often to comment on or critique the original work or subject matter. People may present as parodies to create humour or make a point by exaggerating or altering elements of the original, while still maintaining recognizable elements.<br><br> The use of parody is not an indication of inauthentic or malicious behaviour; parody allows people to present ideas or criticisms in a comedic or exaggerated manner, softening the impact of sensitive or contentious topics. Because parody is often protected as a form of free speech or artistic expression, it provides a legal and social framework for discussing controversial issues.<br><br> However, parody personas may be perceived as authentic personas, leading to people mistakenly believing that a parody account’s statements represent the real opinions of a parodied target. Threat actors may also use the guise of parody to spread campaign content. Parody personas may disclaim that they are operating as a parody, however this is not always the case, and is not always given prominence.<br><br><b>Associated Techniques and Sub-techniques</b><b>T0097: Presented Persona: </b>Analysts can use the sub-techniques of T0097: Presented Persona to categorise the type of parody.For example, an account presenting as a parody of a business could be documented using T0097.205: Business Persona and T0143.003: Parody Persona.<br><b>T0145.001: Copy Account Imagery:</b> Actors may take existing accounts’ profile pictures as part of their parody efforts.
* **Belongs to tactic stage**: TA16
| Incident | Descriptions given for this incident |
| [I00067 Understanding Information disorder](../../generated_pages/incidents/I00067.md) | <i>“A 2019 case in the US involved a Republican political operative who created a parody site designed to look like Joe Biden’s official website as the former vice president was campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election. With a URL of joebiden[.]info, the parody site was indexed by Google higher than Biden’s official site, joebiden[.]com, when he launched his campaign in April 2019. The operative, who previously had created content for Donald Trump, said he did not create the site for the Trump campaign directly.<br><br> “The opening line on the parody site reads: “Uncle Joe is back and ready to take a hands-on approach to America’s problems!” It is full of images of Biden kissing and hugging young girls and women. At the bottom of the page a statement reads: “This site is political commentary and parody of Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign website. This is not Joe Biden’s actual website. It is intended for entertainment and political commentary only.””</i><br><br> In this example a website was created which claimed to be a parody of Joe Biden’s official website (T0143.004: Parody Persona).<br><br> Although the website was a parody, it ranked higher than Joe Biden’s real website on Google search. |
