Russia The Russian government has used the "firehose of falsehood" at least as early as its
Russo-Georgian War in 2008. There also have been Russian campaigns targeting other "near abroad"
post-Soviet states and the three
Baltic states of
Lithuania,
Latvia, and
Estonia. It continued to use it as part of its
interference in the 2016 United States elections.
United States Steve Bannon, Trump's
2016 presidential campaign CEO and chief strategist during the first seven months of Trump's first presidency, said that the press, rather than
Democrats, was Trump's primary adversary and "the way to deal with them is to
flood the zone with shit." 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. According to
Mother Jones magazine editor
Monika 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 the
ad hominem attack. Several publications have characterized the communication strategy of
Donald Trump as a firehose of falsehood. His use of the firehose technique during the
June 27, 2024, debate broadcast by CNN was noted by analysts such as
Heather Cox Richardson, who labeled Trump's performance as
Gish galloping, and
Dan Froomkin, who provided a similar analysis. The technique has also been used by activists, such as by the
anti-vaccine movement to spread debunked theories about the supposed dangers of vaccination.
Other • According to the author and former military intelligence officer
John 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. • During Indonesia's 2019 presidential race, the incumbent,
Joko Widodo, accused
Prabowo Subianto's campaign team of disseminating hateful propaganda aided by foreign consultants and cited "Russian propaganda" and the "firehose of falsehood" model. • According to cybersecurity company
Recorded Future, the technique has been used by the
Chinese government in an attempt to undermine the credibility of
BBC in response to the BBC reporting on the
persecution of Uyghurs in China. • Scholars analyzing Western coverage of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine have argued that describing the invasion as "unprovoked" became a recurring framing device in mainstream commentary, often omitting discussion of prior geopolitical developments such as NATO expansion. • Media critics noted that commentary following the Bondi Junction mass shooting in Australia repeatedly invoked the protest slogan "globalize the intifada" as an explanatory frame. The media watchdog FAIR compiled multiple examples of this usage across prominent outlets and columnists, highlighting the rapid convergence of the phrasing in public commentary. == Countermeasures ==