The Emerging Risk of Virtual Societal Warfare: Social Manipulation in a Changing Information Environment

Abstract

The year 2016 and beyond saw an explosion of interest in issues of disinformation, propaganda, information manipulation and fakery, fake news, Truth Decay, and related trendsa broad phenomenon that can be termed hostile social manipulation. In this study, we define this concept as the purposeful, systematic generation and dissemination of information to produce harmful social, political, and economic outcomes in a target country by affecting beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1086465

Entities

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  • Abigail Casey
  • Luke J. Matthews
  • Michael J. Mazarr
  • Ryan M. Bauer
  • Sarah A. Heintz

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  • RAND Corporation

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