What is weaponisation of information?

Information is power. Controlling information or weaponising information represents a key mechanism to leverage this power.

Weaponised information can be described as messages, data or content that is deliberately created to affect a recipient’s perception about an issue, a thing or a person in a manner which may lead to behaviour change, provocation or influence the recipient in sinister ways.

It is important to note, in weaponisation of information, the information could be true or false. The underlying requirement is for it to have been consciously created with the intention of achieving a tactical or strategic goal once it is assimilated by the recipient.

Although weaponisation of information is more of a cognitive process, its main vehicle in today’s information world is through digital technologies. Weaponisation of information does not take place within the scope of day to day information exchanges since it is anchored firmly on complex or deep learning processes where the information is deliberately packaged by the sender, based on the recipients unique characteristics and preferences, using insights derived from the principles of behavioral sciences in order to achieve intended results.

The main objective of weaponised information is to bring about a change in the recipients’ beliefs and attitudes in terms of influencing a person’s political views, compromising voting systems, sow rancour within a society, undermine public institutions, disrupt political systems, change perception as well as provide a call to action.

At the end of the day, the recipient’s behaviour is changed to serve the interest of the attacker’s purpose and interest. Since weaponised information is in the realm of behaviour alteration, it is sometimes known as cognitive hacking or social engineering.

Types

Weaponisation of information manifests in a number of ways, including use of factual information for unintended purposes. Showing an old video to reflect a current situation, without labeling it as a archival material, heavily biased news reporting, targeted political advertising, curating social media commentaries and spreading intentional falsehoods are all examples of weaponised information.

Beyond its application in politics, societal issues and religion, weaponised information is increasingly being used by commercial entities in order to gain competitive advantage. For example, a player in the food and beverages marketplace can spread rumours about a competitor’s product stating it causes cancer with the result that customers shun the product in question to the advantage of their own, often similar product.

Weaponised information is now a commonplace activity, meaning you can now buy the services of lobbying and PR companies who offer professionalised online weaponisation of information for a fee, especially for entities who will like to engage in it but do not have the sophisticated skills and resources required.

Albeit, Russia, North Korea and China are usually stated as notable examples of governments who weaponise information, there is a growing list of other governments using weaponised information. They use it to engage in espionage, subvert democracy, confuse rival countries especially during a war or conflict, and as a tool to influence other countries electoral processes.

Fighting back

Fighting the menace of weaponised information is a complex and difficult one due in part to the fact that sometimes the persons it impact are not aware of its existence since the messages are expertly crafted and presented as factual information, while exploiting the recipients’ culture, cognitive biases and mistakes. Some users unconsciously serve as agents to distribute weaponised information without knowing that they are part of the problem.

One important way of fighting weaponised information is by strengthening individuals’ capacity for critical thinking, making them discerning enough to cut through this type of information dissemination.

Fact-checking is also touted as a tool to fight weaponised information. The proliferation of numerous fact-checking initiatives and projects across the world attest to this. However, it doesn’t appear effective as the rapid diffusion of weaponisation is not dwindling and is rather mutating.

In conclusion, the weaponisation of information is going to see rapid growth and continue to take different forms and shapes. There is, therefore, the need to develop both a theoretical and practical framework to understand its manifestation since we do not have readily available critical analytics to deal with it decisively.

We also need to increase socialisation around the issue of weaponisation of information so that citizens are constantly reminded about its existence. Lastly, new digital technologies may be best in the fight against the weaponisation of information, so companies and governments should invest in them.

The writer is Technology Innovations Consultant

E-mail: kwami@mangokope.com