Abstract
The first quarter of the 21st century has barely passed, but a barrage of ‘disrupting' surprises emerged – from the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICT) to the weaponisation of ICT itself. Hence, cyberfakes or cyber deceptions (e.g., deepfakes, fake news, and even hate speech) have the potential to cause monumental problems related to cybersecurity and other online information management for organisations, nations, and individuals. Because literature and theories related the novel cyber deceptions may be scanty, this chapter attempted to close this research and theoretical gaps by deriving concepts leading to the development of a ‘modelled framework' for the study of deepfakes and other related cyber deceptions and violence in social, organisational, or national contexts. Performing brainstorming reviews of extant literature, several theoretical concepts were derived leading to the development of the unified model of digital deception and online hate pronouncement. Policy recommendations were offered at the end.
TopIntroduction
Barely has the world lived the first quarter of the 21st century than a swarm of disruptive surprises emerged. These surprises range from the so-called ‘millennium bug’, to the proliferation of information and communication technologies, and to the emergence, growth, and development of social media. Additional surprises include the revolutionary development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, to the weaponisation of the internet. The weaponisaion of the internet is a phenomenon that can cause harm not only to organisations and nations’ cyber resources and cyber assets but also to online users’ safety and wellbeing which often escalates into real-life mayhems with devastating consequences (Ahmad, Zhang, Huang, Zhang, Dai, Song, & Chen, 2021). Last but not the least of the surprises of the 21st century is the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused global public health problems with devastating socio-economic consequences and implications for disruptive cybersecurity and online information management. Hence, cyberfakes or cyber deceptions (e.g., deepfakes, cheap fakes, fake news, and even hate speech) have the potential to cause monumental problems related to cyber security and other online information management for organisations, nations, and individuals (Paris & Donovan, 2019). In 2017, Nigeria was scored fifth in terms of cybersecurity (readiness, legislation, etc.) in Africa. In the same period, it was scored between 50th and 89th globally. Nigeria scored a very high rating in terms of cybersecurity legislation in Africa in 2017 (Garba & Bade, 2021; Ogundokun, Awotunde, Sadiku, Adeniyi, Abiodun, & Dauda, 2021). While in 2020, according to Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), it was ranked 4th out of 43 countries in Africa, and 47th out of 182 countries (GCI, 2020).
The early years of the new millennium were dominated by the predominant model of internet connectivity which was rooted in population disparities worldwide. Consequently, national well as international security brings people into contact with “vast informational circuits that increasingly organise life on a global scale” (Ahmad et al., 2021; Reid, 2009, p. 608). As described in that utopian vision, this idea was undermined by an additional assumption. The assumption is that internet users will automatically be drawn to learn and grow by searching for new sources of knowledge in the current crisis of digital deceits online including misinformation, deepfakes, and cheap fakes. The utopian assumption further envisages the rise of authoritarian populism in Western liberal democracies (Bradshaw & Howard, 2019; Paris & Donovan, 2019; Taylor, 2021). Various studies and analyses have all agreed that these transformations have contributed to the emergence of a new and confounding state of both national and international insecurity (Sayler, 2019, 2019 Oct. 14; Horowitz, Allen, Saravelle, Cho, Frederick, & Scharre, 2018; Tolosana, Vera-Rodriguez, Fierrez, Morales, & Ortega-Garcia, 2020).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cyberfakes: This term is the synonym of cyber deception. It further means any fake, or faked content in whatever form that is circulated online to confuse, deceive, threaten, or even harm or destroy others’ property whether online, offline or both.
Cyber Assets: All physical property related to cyber technology and other information and communication technology possessed by a government, organisation, or individuals.
Artificial Intelligence: Sophisticated technology based on machine learning algorithms that can imitate human thinking capacity and movements/behaviours.
Cyber Resources: This refers to all non-physical wealth, assets, properties, and other possessions that exist in cyberspace (online) such as the various form of data and other valuable information.
Cyber Deception: Deceptive, unreal, faked content shared online to deceive others.
Cybersecurity: This term refers to the online peacefulness, safety, and harmony of state (nation), organisation and even individual. It also refers to the absolute absence, or a substantial degree of the guarantee of the absence of cyberviolence, ‘cyberaggression’, cyberconflict and other forms of online threat to a nation’s, organisation’s or individual entity’s overall sense of being secure from any phenomenon that may cause a great deal of panic, and fear, or the absence of peace, or the prevalence of war-like situation, or all of these in the cyberspace.
Cyberviolence/Conflict: Violence or conflict that occurs between and among entities with online consequences and may have real-life consequences as well.