Counteracting information warfare with communication tactics

We live in a modern era of digitally connected, cohesive world where geographical distances are narrowing. Today through the virtual space and realm of social media, like minded individuals cutting across cultural, geographical, and national boundaries can engage with each other in a meaningful way. The intriguing space of social and digital media has largely simplified the access to information, enabled incessant communication, and has helped in taking steps towards a more unified world.

In the ambit of social media, one’s role is no more limited to just recipient of information but also an active creator Through likes, comments, and subscribes one becomes instrumental in spreading, enhancing, and multiplying information. 

However, in this digital dependent environment, where the alternative media is outflanking the mainstream platforms, the spread of disinformation is banal. The networked and interconnected nature of the information landscape, can easily lead to spurred proliferation of lies, inaccurate information, and dubious narrative.

The decentralized nature of digital infrastructure has been instrumental in enforcing autonomy, foster creativity, and dismantle information asymmetry. However, on a flip side it has also enabled entities to create falsehood ceaselessly and multiply it across systems.

Increasingly adversaries are leveraging numerous communication channels to spread falsehood, propagandas, sabotage, deception, etc. Military and intelligence agencies are also not keeping any stone unturned in adopting interconnected digital space to spread lies and misinformation thereby creating chaos and confusion. Information warfare alongside other covert operations such as cyber-crime and military posturing are integral part of modern day military strategies, also termed as the hybrid warfare.

Types of Disinformation

There are various kinds of disinformation varying in scale and nature. It can range from wrong audio-visual information to imposter contents to falsely placed context.

It includes specifically designed propagandas to alter the behaviour of a particular target group, false information to create manipulation in the society, pugnacious narrative to discredit groups & institutions, etc.

As mentioned above, wars these are no more just limited to artilleries, radars, and fighting jets. A sizable portion of battles are now also shifting to information landscape. Politically influenced falsehood and disinformation are now systematically created with predefined objective of making deliberate social, financial, and reputational damages. Propaganda manoeuvring to chaos mongering, are now common to create social tensions and rifts, thereby weakening the state.

Communication strategies to counter disinformation: reactively counter the narrative

The nature of information warfare is evolving with more sophisticated & powerful players entering the space. These are well adept in the art of crafting & spinning disinformation. The campaigns are maturing with visible interplay of technology, communication, social, and traditional media channels.

Hence it is imperative for state actors (and other related entities) to take systematic steps to curb the spread of disinformation and undermine the malign intention of adversaries.

One of the simplistic yet a profound strategy to counter disinformation is to not engage with it at all. Disinformation thrive on sensationalism and provocation. Engaging with an ill-willed disinformation campaign can enable it to amplify across multiple channels. Refusal to engage, sometimes can devoid it of the required fodder to spread fast. However, many times when the false narratives have spread far and is now swaying public opinion in the wrong direction, it is important to take firm actions. State actors should counter falsehood and systematically create and plant the right information.

Following a disinformation campaign, the state actor should introduce the right narrative thereby mitigating its ill-effect. For instance, if a false story has been planted on social media, an effective way to counterbalance it could be refute it with fact-based and data driven narrative. By proactively sharing accurate information through transparent, clear, and open channels, the myths and falsehoods can be debunked and hostile narratives destroyed.

Though it might look simple and effective in a lot of cases, the reactive approach of building the alternate narrative, has its limitations. We live in a time where falsehood and disinformation might spread like a wildfire but there are limited takers for a more credible & evidence-backed perspectives. Moreover, individual have their own biases, which also means the source of information is more important rather than the actual content. For instance, if an individual is biased towards a particular source of information, they might not believe them no matter how credible the information is. This makes us look for other alternatives.

Promote trustworthy sources

One of the fundamental ways to gauge the authenticity of a piece of information is correspondence. Ideally if a piece of content corresponds to factual data, information, ground realities, it holds a higher chance of being credible. Yet in a time, when attention spans are dwindling, average recipient neither has the time or the patience to do research at their own end to verify the information. People have their own internal biases, based on which they keep few sources high on the pedestal, while look down upon others.

Hence a prudent approach to win in this information warfare can be to promote more credible and trustworthy sources. This can include mainstream media, public policy think tanks, academic & research institutions, which has a more rigorous approach towards information analysis and dissemination and hence can consolidate their position as a source of trustworthy and coherent information.

To further extend the line of action, state actors can also use technology to identify dubious sources of information, imposter accounts, fake news sites etc. and then take proper actions. The actions could include suspension, limiting, or filtering, etc An approach of promoting robust & powerful news platforms and simultaneously purging out sources of disinformation can give immaculate results in the mid to longer run.

Directly engage with the Public

For any state actor or a higher institution, it is essential to build cohesive communication channels with the public and keep them apprised about its activities, policies, philosophies, etc. This can include traditional activities such as communicating through social media, journalist outreach activities, training programs, and informative website contents, etc. All the communication should be aligned with the core principles and values of the institution, thereby helping it fruitfully engage with stakeholders.

In addition to conventional activities, it is also advisable to apply other complementary exercises such as reaching out to young content creators, social media influencers, etc. on a regular basis and inform them about their latest activities,

We are increasingly living in a time, when various dubious entities are deliberately using false and manipulated information to create confusion, deepen chasms in the society, and undermine general public’s trust on government, state run bodies, and news agencies. It can greatly affect feelings towards a country or an institution, thus impede social harmony and public wellbeing. If not checked it can also fan violence and extremism.

As responsible actors, the state has to step-up and protect their citizens and public from such threat of information war, that are aimed to destroy the social fabrics. In the current times, it is imperative for state to understand the grave threats of false narrative and implement powerful & multithemed communication strategies to counter them.