As Europeans, the sober reality of a war next door in Ukraine reminds us that freedom is not free. What we have missed is the impact of disinformation campaigns, and many other aspects of hybrid warfare. This oversight is understandable. Yet, I have seen decent folk argue on social media with the indoctrinated, paid disinformation specialists, and even bots.
The social media effect is impact. It can consume your time and eventually affect your mental health. It all depends on your approach to its use. While correctly using social media platforms can be beneficial, I have written extensively about the effects of disinformation and what we can do about it.Â
As we focus on our daily lives, the malicious alliance between cybercrime and digital meddling in our affairs proceeds with a frightening intensity. As the 2024 presidential election approaches in the United States, these bad-actors target English-speaking platforms with weaponized false narratives.
Disinformation Peppers the United States
While we see customized posts that trigger our outrage, what is happening is much greater. We are being targeted by bad-actors, who use metrics developed with skill and precision. Cheerfully selling your data, social media platforms will deliver datasets into the hands of their big billing customers, who use it for their own ends.
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Downstream from this activity is where your data becomes key to placing you with accuracy into a group, which sets you into a cohort. This enables those who can cause harm to digitally target you. It’s part of a larger industry that is cheerfully de-stabilizing societies at scale.
The US Elections have the same alliance of hostile states targeting them, which the EU experienced in the run up to the EU elections last June. Iran, Russia, and China all contribute to this hostile alliance, which seeks domination over western democracies. Their de facto digital-alliance also involves powerful private interests, some of which reside in target nations.
Russia’s Disinformation Station Uncovered
President Biden’s administration revealed the influence of Russia’s RT media station, which is embedded with the Kremlin’s intelligence services. Through organized campaigns of disinformation, misinformation, and subversive activities like fund raising, Russia’s intelligence services have aggressively gained an edge. They are collecting, analyzing, and developing globally ranged intelligence on target individuals and also target groups in their strategic path.
As President Biden’s initiative will surely attract attention from allies, US intelligence revealed Iran’s hack of Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign. They have also targeted the Harris-Walz campaign, albeit with less success, so far. While the security services in the United States work to prevent election meddling, the fact remains that in order to do it, hostile actors need accurate intelligence.
The Shadow War
Many believe that the email leaks of Hillary Clinton by cybercriminals in 2016 helped Donald Trump win the US election. He used bad-actor cyber attacks for his own gain, and now appears to be a pawn. Despite what he thinks of himself, he is nothing more than a means to an end. His actions ultimately serve the interests of this hostile alliance in a shadow war against the West.
When we understand the importance of how a once shelved KGB experiment in mathematical psychology can now shape the future of all democratic nations, we must organize. When we do, we realize we can not only defend ourselves against this hybrid threat, we can defeat it. It is then; our societies can, once again, shape our own future.
About the Author
John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and suspense genres. With a background as a journalist since 2016, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.
