Category: Information Warfare

According to research conducted by a human-rights organization, Facebook encourages climate skeptics to engage in more severe misinformation and conspiracy organizations. 

According to research issued by Global Witness on Wednesday, Facebook’s algorithm exacerbated uncertainties rather than guiding users to trustworthy information. Facebook’s technologies are “intended to prevent disinformation,” according to the company. Investigators generated two users: climate skeptic “Jane” and acknowledged scientific bodies following “John.” They then kept note of what Facebook’s algorithm recommended for both accounts. Jane quickly came across information debunking man-made climate change, including sites calling it a “hoax” and criticizing mitigation efforts. Posts accused the “green movement” of “enslaving mankind” and the United Nations of being “an authoritarian state with less credibility than Bugs Bunny,” among other examples. Other articles, such as this one from CFact Campus, disputed that people were responsible for climate change. 

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60905348 

Despite best efforts by tech giants, no clampdown can fully achieve its purpose when up against the sheer volume of people on the internet.

The kremlin is using its skill at creating and delivering propaganda and false information online, using the swaths of far-right conspiracy theorist, and communist sympathizers to spread and parrot its disinformation.

The posts on these platforms repeat false information, such as Russia’s claim that its bombing of a Ukrainian maternity hospital was actually staged, that it invaded to liberate Ukraine, or that the nation—led by a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors—has descended into neo-Nazism.

The UK Government with allocate funds worth more than $5.4 millions to the BBC World Service. The Prime  Ministers Office  state that  “The UK will also provide an additional GBP 4.1 million for the BBC World Service as part of a cross-government effort to tackle disinformation in Russia and Ukraine, as well as new financial and policing support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes,” The statement further added, “ emergency funding to support its Ukrainian and Russian language services in the region… has been provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and FCDO.”

Source: https://www.newsx.com/world/uk-government-pumps-in-5-4-million-to-for-information-warfare-against-russia.html

Late last year, when Russia started massing soldiers on Ukraine’s border, CIA Director William Burns was prepared. Burns, a career ambassador, served two deployments at the US Embassy in Moscow and is one of Biden’s top experts on Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. Burns, who sits atop the CIA, is in charge of a sprawling bureaucracy whose work is intended to be kept secret under normal circumstances. However, when Russia’s threats to Ukraine grew, the Biden administration, led by Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, opted to pursue a unique and riskier strategy, which the administration thinks has paid off in damaging Putin’s war preparations. Early in the Biden administration, Burns was authorized to oversee the CIA. His nomination was uncontroversial, and he is well-liked by both Democrats and Republicans in national security circles. 

Source: https://thehill.com/policy/international/597913-bidens-cia-head-leads-the-charge-against-putins-information-war 

Vladimir Putin has long been known as an expert in information warfare. His use of social media as a weapon and relentless promotion of false narratives have proved crucial in a number of significant victories over the last decade, including the takeover of Crimea in 2014 and Donald Trump’s victory in 2016. This just adds to the astonishment of the present situation. Even though Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has only been underway for less than two weeks, it is apparent that the propaganda battle has been decisively defeated. Putin’s invasion has rendered Russia poisonous in ways that even his strong misinformation campaign has been unable to counteract. It has resulted in unprecedented international sanctions and the severance of all relations with the government by several of the world’s largest corporations. Even traditionally dependable allies like China are becoming more hesitant to openly support the Kremlin. 

Source: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-vladimir-putin-is-losing-the-information-war-to-ukraine/