How social media is being weaponised

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
War Goes Viral - How social media is being weaponized across the world
A quite an interesting article in The Atlantic that investigates how social media is now be used in war to advance the causes of the combatants. This is not just being done by groups such as Daesh and now other non state actors, but also by state actors such as Russia, China, Venezuela and others for various reasons. Daesh have been acclaimed as being innovative in their social media enterprise but according to the article all they have done is plagiarise others by copying ideas and methods commonly used in media such as advertising, music videos and movies.

It is well worth taking the time to read.
 

ethan150

Banned Member
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Faideark

New Member
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Todjaeger

Potstirrer
Read this blurb about Russian-linked Twitter bots which were used to interfere in the Brexit vote by posting/sharing and increasing the audience size of their messages.

From what I have come across, it seems most of the messages were pro Brexit and at least some of the accounts were intended to appear as though they were American accounts.

The information of the accounts comes from date Twitter provided to the US Congress.
 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
I wonder how much Russian meddling occurred in the recent separatist votes in Scotland and Spain?
Indeed. Given the impact social media sites and networks had on the "Arab Spring" back in 2011, one does have to wonder if the Russians were paying attention. It also makes one wonder about the Russian annexation of Crimea. Odessa has had a reputation for being a major (if not the major) hub for international computer crime.

It is also worth noting that many of the white nationalist websites have now relocated and are hosted in Russia.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
Given the apparent interference in the Brexit vote by the Russians and a lack of progress on the actual exit deal, is this interference sufficient reason to have another vote? Seems to me a workable excuse to correct a bad vote decision.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
Given the apparent interference in the Brexit vote by the Russians and a lack of progress on the actual exit deal, is this interference sufficient reason to have another vote? Seems to me a workable excuse to correct a bad vote decision.
How is this any different from the US interfering in foreign elections since the end of WWII, hell they are even implicated in our 1975 constitutional crisis with Gough Whitlam right up to PM Hawke even now there are Chinese whispers trying to influence members of parliament on both sides of the house.

its up to the voter to do his research before voting on these important issues, unless there is fraud in the actual voter system foreign government will always try to influence an outcome for there own interests, just because you don't like the end result doesn't mean they have actually rigged the vote
 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
How is this any different from the US interfering in foreign elections since the end of WWII, hell they are even implicated in our 1975 constitutional crisis with Gough Whitlam right up to PM Hawke even now there are Chinese whispers trying to influence members of parliament on both sides of the house.

its up to the voter to do his research before voting on these important issues, unless there is fraud in the actual voter system foreign government will always try to influence an outcome for there own interests, just because you don't like the end result doesn't mean they have actually rigged the vote
Something to consider (and consider carefully since this abuts political discussion which is an appropriately unpopular and unhealthy topic to discuss here on DT) is how interference in foreign elections was accomplished by the US and other countries. Was the interference a gov't to gov't diplomatic effort? Was it foreign propaganda, or a foreign perspective/opinion/point of view? If it was propaganda, was it overt or covert?

One of the things which is different now vs. in the past is how people receive information, and then how they process what they receive. Behavioral scientists only just seem to be starting to get a handle on how some things occur now, but some of the discoveries seem to be at once both fascinating and disturbing.

Take confirmation bias as an example. A person has nn belief. Initially they might not have a strong belief in nn, but they encounter additional "people" who express or profess a similar belief in nn, and those encounters with "people" serve to confirm the person's beliefs. This becomes very problematic when the "people" are actually bots and/or sock puppet accounts under the control of a person or group that has an agenda and are attempting to influence a situation or achieve an outcome in line with their agenda.

Going further with such an example, the activities of botnets and sock puppet accounts can dramatically amplify the apparent volume of noise coming from a person or group, or about an event or issue. A single blogger might write a nasty post about something, perhaps a complaint about a poor experience when dealing with a specific industry or company. If that post gets picked up by a botnet and re-used or repeated 10k times, then that industry or specific business might see or receive 10k complaints, when it was still just the original person who had an issue and not the perceived angry mob.

As for voters doing their research, that is also being complicated by the various botnets and sock puppet accounts. Claims are easy to make, and if very popular and/or 'hot' then the information will be readily available. What can be much harder, especially for most people, is to get honest confirmation of many claims which get made, especially over social media. Just look at the comments section of many news articles on the Internet.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
There is no doubt that technology is a huge game-changer and it has provided adversaries with a much more effective way to push their propaganda. A few months ago, most people would have thought that cyberwarfare was disruption of critical infrastructure or defence systems. The weaponization of social media has demonstrated that cyberwarfare is much broader and may eventually include attacking financial targets, something most would consider a criminal act which it would be but if applied on a large scale, it really becomes an act of war. No doubt there be even more exotic variations on how to use social media as a weapon. Sort of makes you want to disconnect.:D
 

Larry_L

Active Member
News reports in the US have been reporting on the use of AI to create Deep Fakes. This can be used in various vectors to extort money, Influence elections, or anywhere public opinion would have an effect on an outcome. Outcome can be damaging to an individual, a state, or states.


 

Larry_L

Active Member
In case you need tools to verify the authenticity of some media. Of course many of these tools have a steep learning curve. I found one here I may use, but time is limited. The easiest way probably is to "Consider the source." and try to know their motivation.

 
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