HANDBOOK ON CSDP
8.5. CASE STUDY: DISINFORMATION by Vicente Diaz de Villegas Roig
24/7 battle to control the narrative – a battle in which the technological gap is no longer a determining factor. Disinformation is taking precedence in today’s crises. Although it is not a new phenomenon, its systematic use and the ease with which it can be disseminated thanks to new technologies have turned it into one of the main vehicles for hybrid threats. In this regard, the Joint Framework on Countering Hybrid Threats, published by the European Union in 2016, states that ‘massive disinformation campaigns, using social media to control the political narrative or to radicalise, recruit and direct proxy actors can be vehicles for hybrid threats’.
DISINFORMATION GENERATES DOUBTS
The truth is the first victim in any conflict. The duty of every civil society is to develop its resilience and protect information as a common good. If you fail to take your place in the information environment, others will. During the Cold War, the potential mutual destruction guaranteed by a conflict involving nuclear weapons served as a deterrent in the physical environment. However, the birth of the internet and the subsequent rise of social networks has led the information environment to become a battleground. Government agencies, private organisations and other pressure groups fight a
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In the battle for the narrative, disinformation seeks to generate doubts about the truthfulness of facts. The truth is thus relativised by public discourse being devalued, so as to generate distrust in the institutions governing society. The main tool used to achieve this effect is not so much blatant lies, but rather the exploitation of information taken out of context and of messages that appeal more to emotion than to reason. An individual who doubts, mistrusts and is permanently subjected to information overload is fickle in their views, which makes it easy for their passive opinions to be turned into active convictions. Assessing the effectiveness of disinformation is no simple task. The question is: can disinformation create new opinions, or does it simply strengthen
