Abstract
Social media networks have the capability to allow the spread of both factual information and disinformation amongst general populations at a pace unforeseen at any previous time in history. Those who are responsible for continuing to protect democratic principles can benefit from studying, understanding, and adapting to counteract this unheralded spread of data. Developing tactics and strategies to counter the antics of those who propagate disinformation to further their own causes will become necessary to protect the integrity of elections and other national and international interests. This chapter explores and reveals some of the general threats and potential counter measures to keep general populations protected from the negative effects of such campaigns.
TopSocial media is a term used to describe a disruptive paradigm shift in which governments and large multinational corporations no longer have a monopoly on news media channels. Social media is an alternative approach to controlled media, based on a loosely coupled set of systems whereby individuals or organizations can disseminate declarations based on social connections and declarations of social circles. Unlike a conventional news dissemination mechanism such as Reuters, social media channels have no clear lines of demarcation, central points of control that can be shut down, or mechanisms by which editors may control reports of an event. The content itself, however, may have an equal or even greater impact on the audience when delivered via social media.
Traditional media has now global reach as well, in most cases over the Web. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), CNN, New York Times, Reuters and others have used the web to reach their audiences. The reach/accessibility depends on the reputation of the media outlet. While many new media outlets such as Wired Magazine, Slashdot.org, CNET and others have capitalized on the new media, established media corporations have been quick to embrace it as a new channel.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Disinformation: Information released/distributed/shared which is non-factual or pure speculation, whether intentionally or innocently. Since people’s motives are impossible to test, there is an element of uncertainty to the term regarding the level of truth. Three considerations come into play in this regard. First, honest errors also occur, with some errors simply mistakes, misquotes or misattributions. Second, information may be partial, confusing or ignore details and context such that what is provided cannot be properly understood. Third, there is the element of official spin, which is selective partial information released by “someone in charge” that favorably situates an occurrence or event.
Ontology: The formal representation of knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships among those concepts (Malafsky & Newman, n.d.; Ontology, n.d.). Within the field of computational intelligence, it is used as input to reason or make inferences about the entities within that domain, as well as to describe the domain. Sub-concepts include syntax (the way words are put together to form a sentence), semantics (the meaning of al symbol or concept within a specific context), pragmatics (the implications of that information in context) and context (the set of circumstances or details that are relevant to a specific incident or event).
Declarative Living: Using social media to compose a pattern of statements or events. When individuals make declarations about activities, events, or objects and enough declarations are made within a specific context. The Declarative living pattern, first espoused by industry analyst James Governor, may be realized in many forms from videos to simple text (Governor et al., 2009).
Information Warfare: In a global information environment, this represents a conflict promulgated by the consistent and prolonged spreading of knowingly false information in order to achieve a political, military or other objective. Information warfare has been used in many world conflicts to keep populations aligned with the desires of al specific faction.
Tag Gardening: A sister patterning technique to Declarative Living. For example, security policies may be breached based on information that is available to be mined from a trail of Declarative Living digital breadcrumbs (Governor, 2009). The pattern of the digital “breadcrumbs” may emerge from multiple people related by location, employment, age-group, etc., or from an individual (for example, purchase patterns).
Social media: A term used to describe a disruptive paradigm shift in which governments and large multinational corporations no longer have a monopoly on news media channels. Social media is an alternative approach to controlled media, based on a loosely coupled set of systems whereby individuals or organizations can disseminate declarations based on social connections and declarations of social circles. Differentiators of social media from conventional media include reach, accessibility, mutability, bidirectional, less accountability, usability, currency/speed, uncontrollable, measurable, and the business model (migrating to a paid content placement model).
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 19 of the statement on human rights made by the United Nations, which specifically supports social media: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers” (United Nations, n.d.).
National Sovereignty: The absolute capability and power of a sovereign nation to independently govern free from external interference. The planting and promoting of disinformation by external state or non-state actors can directly affect a nation’s ability to self-govern.