Information warfare is on the rise
According to Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science political scientist Dr Nerijus Maliukevicius, Lithuania is experiencing a truly tumultuous period.
“We can see that information attacks are getting more prevalent. Our intelligence agencies also talk about this in their yearly threat assessment reports. Apparently, the number of attacks is increasing, and they are getting more aggressive. What does that mean? It means that our authoritarian eastern neighbours – Russia, Belarus, and China – are trying to make use of the pre-election period because it is a suitable context for creating certain disinformation chaos,” he said.
Maliukevicius also noted that nowadays cyberattacks are crossing into the real world.
“We also see that such attacks are getting more aggressive physically. For example, several monuments dedicated to freedom fighters have been vandalized with paint – ant not just in Lithuania, but in all three Baltic countries. These were coordinated actions. Attacks against members of the Russian opposition in Lithuania can also be mentioned. This shows that the Kremlin or Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is prepared to use information warfare in our country, and this activity is increasing,” he continued.
The political scientist explained what the goal of various information attacks and disinformation was.
“Traditionally, it is thought that propaganda is supposed to change public opinion. In this case, information warfare is being used to create an information mayhem of sorts, create additional problems for us, and to divert our attention from supporting Ukraine. It is a targeted effort to engulf us in inner chaos and internal struggle and cause tension so that the Kremlin can continue its aggression against Ukraine unhindered,” Maliukevicius stated.
That fact that information warfare strategies are constantly being improved is also alarming.
“I think that the biggest problem today is the fact the Kremlin is using increasingly modern technologies and social media to radicalize certain groups of people and make them conduct physical attacks or, let’s say, paint graffiti, etc. I guess this is an evolution of information warfare strategies, i.e. using new technologies to reach new audience,” the political scientist said.
The youth may be targeted as well
When talking about new audiences that are important to initiators of information attacks, Maliukevicius mentioned Lithuania’s youth. According to him, none other than the young people are the best at understanding and using modern technologies; therefore, they are at risk of being targeted.
“The youth have mastered all these technologies, so media literacy is needed not only for identifying propaganda or disinformation on television or press, but also on social media,” he stressed.
Maliukevicius explained how various fake news and misinformation was different from actual, reliable, and real news.
“Usually, fake news are full of some kind of an emotion, like fear, for example. This is true everywhere, for instance, when choosing photos or creating the title of a headline. Sometimes even various links lead to virus-infected websites, so we also have the challenge of cyberattacks. It is imperative to not start clicking impulsively or disseminate unverified information. These are the basic principles. Also, check the information: are the sources reliable, is the outlet trustworthy, and so on,” he suggested.
Ignoring fake news or disinformation is not an option, though.
“Social media platforms have certain principles and rules that do not allow, for example, disseminating false information, promoting violence, etc., so if you are seeing such content, just inform the administrators. There are dedicated reporting tools, and it is up to the platform to eliminate such content. Another issue – the administrators do not always react accordingly and on time, so the personal skills of a user are important too when trying to understand how disinformation and manipulation is created in order to avoid falling into this trap,” Maliukevicius reminded.
False information is aimed at a wide audience
Aiste Meidute, the editor of Lie Detector at DELFI, also gave significant advice and insight. According to her, with every new social network or other information-sharing platform the amount of propaganda and fake news increases.
“It is a long term issue, and complex measures are required to fight it,” she said.
And although various misleading messages and conspiracy theories are disseminated all the time, she thinks that during important or unique events the amount of dubious information increases exponentially.
“For example, we saw a huge wave of health-related disinformation and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, society’s attention shifted towards the war, and those who engage in propaganda and disinformation were quick to take advantage of this fact to swing society’s moods or gain some popularity bonus points. Last year’s conflict in the Middle East, obviously, resulted in a huge amount of false information. And the list goes on,” Meidute said.
She added that usually those spreading disinformation targeted a specific age group and tried to reach as many users as possible.
“Social media algorithms facilitate the dissemination of such narratives, as if encasing the user in their personal information bubble. If you’ve read several fake messages, followed a controversial topic that is easy to exploit in terms of sending disinformation, chances are that the social media will offer more similar messages,” Meidute stressed.
For this reason, the algorithms of fact-checkers are simply horrendous.
“Since we work with disinformation and often intuitively notice fake news, it is quite common to find more and more fake news and the strangest of conspiracy theories in our feeds because the algorithm reacts accordingly and offers more and more content that we supposedly like. The current user of information needs to understand how algorithms work and not be afraid to ignore the content being suggested, open news portals, and official social media accounts of experts and look for information there,” the Lie Detector’s editor said.
Fake news and manipulations may be hiding everywhere
It would seem that social networks, which have become part of our daily routine, are a familiar thing, but certain examples show that even the most considerate and critical of users are not protected from various malicious content. That is why talking about internet security is very important. Meidute gave some advice on how to identify fake news and how to verify information.
“Usually, in order to separate fake news from reliable information all you need is good reading comprehension, observation, and critical thinking skills. Follow the golden rule: if the source is unknown to you, is not a reputable one, or if it is a scientific paper that has yet to be peer-reviewed, you should at least do minimum research yourself before sharing the information in question. For example, try searching for the information in other sources. This technique is also called lateral reading,” she explained.
Remain vigilant when looking at various images on the internet, too.
“If we are talking about image verification, you can use your browser’s function Reverse Image Search. It can help find more copies of the same image on the internet that will provide additional information – has this image been posted before, in what context, who the author is, etc. This function is also great for analysing videos. Just make a screenshot of a frame that contains specific details that allow identifying it and use the aforementioned function,” Meidute said.
According to her, it is important to realize that fake news and various manipulations can be everywhere.
“For example, even advertising on the social media can be deceitful. Obviously, TikTok or any other social network platform may contain misleading information. Disinformation usually comprises 90% truth and 10% lies, but that 10% is the key part, making you doubt and make incorrect conclusions,” Meidute noted.
Should fake news be ignored?
“We always encourage readers who notice suspicious information online and suspect that it might be fake to send us links at melo.detektorius@delfi.lt. Our team tries to react swiftly to requests and will assess whether the information sent can be verified,” she added.
Meidute also explained the workings of the Lie Detector.
“When we detect rapidly-spreading false narratives which can have a negative impact on society, we analyze them at the Lie Detector unit. If you notice something suspicious on a social network platform, let’s say Meta, you can always choose the ‘Report’ option and give a reason for reporting. Since we are a fact-checking partner of Meta, we cooperate closely with the company in order to prevent the spread of false information,” Meidute said.
However, when asked whether completely stopping the dissemination of fake news and disinformation is possible, she was not too optimistic.
“The genie is out of the bottle, so I do not think it’s possible. Even using AI to fight fake news would not be a miracle solution because it can be used to create fake news just as successfully. All we can do is teach internet users to read texts and use visual and audio information knowledgeably and critically,” she answered.
Meidute also explained how to do this.
“One can explain the mechanisms of manipulation, talk about the main narratives of fake news, provide tools and knowledge for independent verification of information, or familiarize people with the work of fact-checkers and encourage looking for information that has already been verified by professional journalists. You’d be surprised how many various false statements are being checked within minutes of publication,” she claimed.