Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Media, information & communication industries > Information technology industries
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Digital Influence Mercenaries - Profits and Power Through Information Warfare (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,260
Discovery Miles 12 600
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Digital Influence Mercenaries - Profits and Power Through Information Warfare (Hardcover)
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In today's online attention economy, supply and demand have created
a rapidly growing market for firms and entrepreneurs using the
tactics, tools, and strategies of digital influence warfare to gain
profit and power. This book focuses on the more malicious types of
online activity such as deception, provocation, and a host of other
dirty tricks conducted by these "digital influence mercenaries."
They can be located anywhere with an Internet connection--Brazil,
China, Iran, Macedonia, Russia, Zimbabwe--and the targets of their
influence efforts can be whomever and wherever they are paid to
attack. They can do this for state governments willing to pay and
provide their targeting instructions (usually in support of foreign
policy objectives) and may have specific metrics by which they will
assess the mercenaries' performance. Non-state actors (including
corporations and political parties) can pay for these kinds of
digital influence services as well. And in addition to being paid
for services rendered, digital influence mercenaries can also
profit simply by manipulating the targeted advertising algorithms
used by social media platforms. James J. F. Forest describes in
detail the various tools and tactics these mercenaries use to
exploit the uncertainties, fears, and biases of their targets
including bots, deep-fake images, fake news, provocation, deception
and trolling. He also shows how they weaponize conspiracy theories
and disinformation to manipulate people's beliefs and perceptions.
Forest also highlights how government agencies and social media
platforms are trying to defend against these foreign influence
campaigns through such tactics as shutting down offending websites,
Facebook pages, and YouTube channels; tagging disinformation with
warning labels; identifying and blocking coordinated inauthentic
behavior; and suspending social media accounts, often permanently.
European and North American governments have launched numerous
investigations against these mercenaries, and in some cases have
brought criminal charges. Forest concludes with suggestions for how
each of us can learn to identify disinformation and other malicious
efforts and defend ourselves in the future.
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