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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 December) – In recent years, the use of cyber technology in spreading disinformation and misinformation has become a major component of efforts to influence people’s behavior and thinking. In terms of policymaking, the operators seek to achieve or advance their ideological, political (including geopolitical), economic, or cultural interests, among others – or to at least gain support and acceptance of such goals from their demographic target.
However, these efforts, known as Influence Operations (IO) or Foreign Influence Operations (FIO), also make use of traditional media to sway public opinion or manipulate behavior towards a certain objective.
This factsheet will try to answer questions related to IO and FIO. It covers the definitions of key terms, tools commonly used, some ways that can be employed to uncover and contain them, among others.
What is IO?
Influence operations involve information cascades that originate from either state, non-state, and proxy (entities covertly working for others) actors either foreign or domestic. It uses narratives that disrupt the health of information ecosystems, and institutions of importance to democratic values, sociopolitical welfare, safety, and peace.
It involves the use of disinformation, propaganda and other harmful content (such as harassment and attacks), delivered in different formats, in a manner that coerces or manipulates behavior and polarizes society.
It could use inauthentic, deceptive and/or concealed procedures. It is implemented in a coordinated manner through traditional media, social media, and other digital mechanisms such as messaging applications and over-the-top (OTTs) media service, privately or publicly distributed.
OTT services are any online offering delivered straight to the consumer, bypassing traditional telecom networks. These services include a wide range of applications such as streaming media platforms like Netflix, voice-over-IP services like Skype, and various messaging apps like Viber, WhatsApp, FB Messenger and Telegram, now used by scammers to trick users.
This IO definition was arrived at following discussions with a shared network of Philippine media organizations dedicated to identifying, analyzing and investigating influence operations in the country.
What is FIO?
According to disinformation.ch, Foreign Influence Operation (FIO), also called foreign interference operation, covers malign actions taken by foreign governments or foreign actors, designed to sow discord, manipulate public discourse, discredit the electoral system, bias the development of policy, or disrupt markets, for the purpose of undermining the interests of a country and its allies.
What are some of the examples of Malign Actions?
– Cyber operations targeting election infrastructure, such as voter registration databases, voting machines, or other critical infrastructure;
– Cyber operations targeting political organizations, campaigns, and public officials;
– Covert influence operations to assist or harm political organizations, campaigns, and public officials;
– Covert influence operations, including disinformation operations, to influence public opinion and sow division, such as the operation of social media pages and other forums that spread disinformation and divisive messaging to target audiences; and
– Overt influence efforts, such as the use of lobbyists, foreign media outlets, and other organizations to influence policymakers and the public.
Are Information Activities (IA) or IO a form of FIO?
Information Activities (IA) or IO are a form of FIO, as they aim to shape public opinion or undermine trust in the authenticity of information. It includes the use of new and traditional media to amplify divides and foment unrest in a country, sometimes coordinated with illicit cyber activities.
IO, also known as information operations and warfare, includes the collection of tactical information about an adversary as well as the dissemination of propaganda in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent.
Manipulators commonly use the spread of false information, including false narratives through traditional media and social media outlets to manipulate and mislead the population, and the weaponization of information to undermine organizations, democratic processes, or to polarize society.
IO is part of psychological warfare, as it involves the planned use of propaganda to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of opposition groups.
What technologies, tools, and techniques are being used in IO/FIO?
IO/FIO spread inauthentic content using the following:
Deep Fake Technologies (DFTs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make it appear that certain people spoke words they did not say, and alter images and videos. These include Deep Video Portraits (DVPs) that are used in Hollywood movies and even YouTube videos, to make the targets move any way they (manipulators) want any part of their (targets) bodies;
Forgeries, which include fake letterheads, copied and pasted signatures, made-up social media posts, and maliciously edited emails. The forged materials are made to look credible by presenting them as hacks or leaks;
Proxy/Fake Websites. Proxy websites are fronts for malicious actors, designed to launder their disinformation and divisive content or use that content to drive website visits. These sites are not developed to provide authentic information. Following high-visibility events, these sites will crop up to take advantage of the public’s legitimate desire for information.
In addition to proxy websites, IO/FIO uses proxies or domestic actors within the victimized country who work on behalf of a foreign state. In the Philippine context, this poses a challenge to attribution in that even if domestic actors spread ideas that align with those spread by a foreign state-backed operation, the former could conveniently invoke the right to freedom of expression as a legal shield.
Foreign influence operators provide financial and logistical support to political and advocacy groups that promote a more friendly agenda towards the foreign government supplying the support, or support extremism and divisive views. In many cases, these groups may not even know the true source of donations or other support as they are skillfully engineered into a belief that makes their acceptance easier.
What factors contribute to vulnerability to IO/FIO?
In democratic countries, laws protecting the freedoms of speech and expression, decreasing trust in traditional news media sources, and the reliance on social media platforms are the leading factors to vulnerability to IO/FIO.
Operators use online platforms and traditional media to facilitate large-scale and targeted spreading of disinformation that feeds on existing cognitive biases, leading to emotional debates and polarization.
Are IO/FIO a threat to democratic societies?
Influence operations are increasingly seen as a threat to democratic societies because they can corrupt the integrity of political deliberation. As individuals engage in debate on social media, political deliberation becomes vulnerable to potentially destructive forms of interference. They could also be regarded as violations of the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of one sovereign state by another.
Influence operations often identify divisive issues that generate strong opinions, resulting in harmful content being sown into the political discourse.
The use of disinformation is a revolutionary tool of warfare, which does not require direct acts of violence, but has significant potential to disrupt society, business, and politics.
Disinformation efforts can be relatively inexpensive to mount and difficult to counter efficiently without significant monitoring, coordination, and cooperation. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno with reports from Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
(This explainer was produced with support from an Internews initiative aiming to build the capacity of news organizations to understand and monitor disinformation and influence operations in the Philippines.)