On disinformation as a hybrid threat spread through social networks

Abstract

Disinformation today poses a serious hybrid threat, the severity of which is exacerbated by the dynamic development and massive use of social networks. The development of the Internet, connectivity and information and communication technologies has caused that information are disseminated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the history of mankind, it has never been easier to receive, search and spread. However, this progress has many positives and many negatives. In the avalanche of information that comes to us on a daily basis, it is undoubtedly very difficult to distinguish which information is true, objective, based on real events and, conversely, which information is misleading, distorted or completely fabricated, created in order to obtain economic, political or other profit. Many non-state actors, but also, unfortunately, state actors, have begun to use this fact to disseminate false information to advance their financial, political, or power interests. Information, resp. disinformation has become a weapon and social networks, which are an excellent tool for spreading disinformation in today's modern information society, have become a battleground for hostile hybrid activities performed on the target audience in the so called Gray zone between peace and war.