ANY NEWS IS NOT NEWS

In an era when google is a verb, smartphones have become an extension of our hands, Facebook has de-socialized human interaction and Twitter has become our main source of news;  there is a war going on in our midst. Not many are aware of this war but many have been casualties of this war. Most still have been drafted into this war without realizing it. It is a war that has far reaching implications to the foundation on which human society and civilisation is built upon.

This is the information warfare. Or by its familiar name fake news.

In the run-up to Kenya’s general election in August, media reported that the two leading coalitions had hired the services of reputable consulting companies. One of this consulting company is the Cambridge Analytica. While officially the company was hired to help the Jubilee party research on voter dynamics and polling, unofficially it used psychological manipulation by designing ads on social media by use of personal data on those sites. The era of fake news had arrived in Kenya. There have been accusations and counter-accusations in other parts of the world on electoral interference by foreign states through weaponizing information.

So what is information warfare? Wikipedia defines Information Warfare (IW) as a concept that involves battlespace use and management of information and communication technology in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. IW may comprise spreading of propaganda, disinformation, collection of tactical information, assurances that own information is reliable or outright denial of information.

Information warfare has found a conducive media in modern means of communication such as television, radio, publications and internet. With the advent of internet, it was hailed as a viable solution to opaqueness that was in governments and business that enabled corruption to thrive. People would have necessary information on their fingertips to criticize their elected leaders and open up new avenues in business and governance. After all as the saying goes information is power. By putting information there to be accessed by everyone was one way of returning power to the people.    

But now this information has been weaponized. It is a loaded gun in the wrong hands. Anyone with ill-motives of someone, race or state can pull this loaded gun and the consequences would be catastrophic. The social network sites where most people spend their time are filled with these destructive information; information designed to sow discord, hatred and threaten peace and harmony of any society.

The masses have no idea about the information they are consuming. Most have no idea on how to spot fake information. Most have no skills on how to verify information they get in these sites. This is a mine field that needs to be addressed easily. A rumour can spread like a raging forest fire in summer and it may be impossible to quell this fire.

So what is to be done? Be very diligent when consuming any news. Verify the content. Confirm if the author has biases towards any side of a debate. And most importantly don’t spread information that you know most likely is false or malicious. You may be playing into the hands of an enemy state, terrorists or people without good intentions.

Beware of fake news and its associated psychological and information warfare.