The "digital" part of this paragraph may be true…

Outsourcing Disinformation

While the details of this case are intriguing, in many ways Smaat’s Twitter network is illustrative of the new normal: a disinformation campaign linked to a digital marketing firm. We are increasingly seeing state actors outsourcing their disinformation operations to these companies.

 …but the rest of it has been going on to my certain knowledge since at least the 1960's, major U.S. public relations and lobbying firms representing the interests of some of the most malevolent dictators and nation states in the world, 

There's really no way to tote up the effects.