Social media and worldwide information warfare

[Aseahawkfan]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/worldwide-war-words-russia-china-174238406.html

Iran, Russia and, to a lesser degree, China have used state media and the world’s major social networking platforms to support Hamas and undercut Israel, while denigrating Israel’s principal ally, the United States.

What do you think of this?

Social media networks are acting as a barely moderated, mass disinformation and misinformation network allowing the world to choose sides in global conflicts. It's taking the same political propaganda we see within America on a Fox News or CNBC and escalating it on a world level. Anyone with access to a smart phone or a computer can be propagandized across social media networks with little to no means to shut down the information spread. Even terrorist organizations can use social media for a variety of purposes from information warfare to recruiting.

The United States competitors don't allow social media to operate openly in their nations. They don't allow Facebook or IG.

What do you think the United States should do when its own companies are creating the means for our enemies to work against us in the information warfare age? How do you compete with nations like China and Russia who heavily regulate and control social media within their nations, but use it extensively to undermine the United States including manipulating our elections from afar?

How does the government and citizens of the United States maintain their freedoms while curtailing the dangers of social media's ability to distribute misinformation and act as a propaganda network for our enemies, competitors, and organizations looking to stoke violence and war?

[RiverDog]

Yeah, it's a tough subject. How far can the government go in regulating social media without infringing on free speech? If we lived in China or Russia, it would be no problem. But we have that pesky document called the Constitution that restricts us from putting the clamps on garbage like this.

It's the same issue that has arisen out of the 2020 election, the capitol riot, the pandemic/vaccines, etc, and it all has the same root cause: People being unable to process information and will believe without question anything that aligns with their preconceived ideas. So long as we have people that are so uneducated, naive, and gullible, we're going to have problems like the one you referenced.

There are no easy answers.

[curmudgeon]

The shredding of the constitution has been going on for 100 years. And will continue until “the world will live as one”……

[NorthHawk]

Yeah, it's a tough subject. How far can the government go in regulating social media without infringing on free speech? If we lived in China or Russia, it would be no problem. But we have that pesky document called the Constitution that restricts us from putting the clamps on garbage like this.

It's the same issue that has arisen out of the 2020 election, the capitol riot, the pandemic/vaccines, etc, and it all has the same root cause: People being unable to process information and will believe without question anything that aligns with their preconceived ideas. So long as we have people that are so uneducated, naive, and gullible, we're going to have problems like the one you referenced.

There are no easy answers.

They tried to make note of disinformation a while back when they had fact checks on things. I don't know how much effort they really made, but they could have some type of disclaimer on the posts saying opinion only - not facts in big red letters
unless the comments are backed up by evidential footnotes. Even then, it's probably not a bad idea to drum into peoples heads that most of the information is simply people shooting their mouths off. (like me in this post)

[c_hawkbob]

As long as people "do their own research" on social media, where they can find affirmation of their beliefs easier than the truth it'll always be a problem.

[Aseahawkfan]

My question wasn't so much the effect, which we know is bad.

It's the asymmetry of the use of social media. In Western Nations, we are very free, very accustomed to reading and watching what we want.

In places like China and Russia, the government controls the flow of information. It does so harshly. Many other dictatorships crush any kind of contrary information.

This seems like an example of asymmetric warfare with the United States freedom being exploited by foreign enemies and nations looking to create chaos in free nations with open communication and social media systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_warfare#:~:text=Asymmetric%20warfare%20is%20a%20form,rebellion%2C%20terrorism%2C%20and%20counterterrorism.

How exactly do we combat such exploitation created by our own companies and utilized as a propaganda weapon to divide our country? It's obviously working to some degree given the chaos that resulted in January 6th and other such events.

It seems that social media may need additional regulation if it becomes dangerous and unhealthy to our nation.

Even now I'm seeing social media being used to threaten presidents as even Biden is being painted as some warmongering president for backing Israel. Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian elements in American society and around the world are being propagandized using social media.

I read House Rep Tlaib and her supporters threatening to pull votes from Biden over his support of Israel. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-representative-tlaib-accuses-biden-supporting-genocide-against-palestinians-2023-11-04/

Is her intent to put Trump or someone crazy back in office by attacking a president from her own party for supporting a key U.S. ally?

Prior to social media, I've never seen anything with such a far reaching ability to propagandize and elevate the voice of a minority viewpoint allowing powerful propaganda to spread this quickly and undermine the already tenuous view of a biased, politically driven media that has lost its place in American society as a source of trusted, quality information. How the hell do you counter that without using similar methods to authoritarian nations who know the power of social media and control it with an iron hand?

It's quite an advantage for our enemies and allows them to exploit our freedom to a degree I've never seen before. I'm thinking we need to do something about that with increased legal regulation such as is done with the mainstream media.

I know it is a hardline to walk as people seem to think the information on social media provides them access to "secret squirrel" special information the biased, mainstream media won't give them. But as has been shown by freaks like Alex Jones, that information is low quality, filled with lies, and can be disparaging or severely damaging such as his BS attempt to paint the Sandy Hook murders as a government black op. Fortunately, they sued that piece of trash into bankruptcy.

I'm thinking we need to come down harder on this and not provide such an advantage to nations like China and Russia in this age of information warfare.

[RiverDog]

It's the asymmetry of the use of social media. In Western Nations, we are very free, very accustomed to reading and watching what we want.

In places like China and Russia, the government controls the flow of information. It does so harshly. Many other dictatorships crush any kind of contrary information.

It's been that way for decades, if not centuries. Dictatorships brainwash their citizens with false information and propaganda all the time. Hitler did it. The Japanese did it. And they'll believe things that are so absurd that it's laughable. In WW2, the Japanese citizens were told that the Americans would eat their children, that in order to become a US Marine, that you first had to kill your parents. It frightened them so bad that women would jump to their deaths off cliffs, clinging to their infants rather than surrender or be captured.

CBob is exactly right. Most people are inherently lazy and will take the path of least resistance. Rather than question the information that they are confronted with, they will migrate to those sources that will tell them what they want to hear.

I don't have a solution. If I had my druthers, I'd ban social media. As much as I love it and as much as it's allowed me to reconnect with old friends, it's had an overall negative effect on society. But it's against our Constitution, and rightfully so.

[Aseahawkfan]

Propaganda has been that way for years.

But it's never had this kind of reach and never so asymmetrical. At one point in time the American media was a very trusted institution in America. We had a lot of trusted journalists like Walter Kronkite and David Brinkley. Now we have a clown show focused on entertainment and divisive politics.

So people have turned to social media where the open environment has allowed enemies from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and similar nations to actively promote propaganda in America and worldwide on a scale never seen before.

I think this needs to be brought under control before it does more damage. There must be some kind of verification process or similar tech they can put in place to curtail the bots and propaganda uses by foreign powers.

Another thing the government should be focused on is rebuilding trust in news. I would like to see them reinstate balanced reporting requirements in the media.

The Fairness Doctrine should return. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fairness-Doctrine

This is one of the reasons I'll never be part of either party even if I tend to vote for my money. The right wing Republicans are the ones that destroyed the Fairness Doctrine to create news agencies like Fox News, so they could polarize audiences to keep voters and use the media to forward their political agendas. I think we need a return to The Fairness Doctrine as having polarized media has been nothing but bad for America and our media while focusing more on profits from creating and fostering political division.