Disinformation in Hybrid Warfare: The Rhizomatic Speed of Social Media in the Spamosphere

Abstract:

In this paper, two case studies are analysed, namely Finland’s Rapid Reaction Force and the arrest of a Russian citizen in Finland at the request of U.S. officials. A so-called rhizomatic focus (Deleuze and Guattari 1983) is adopted to assess social networking spam and the implications that this phenomenon has for interaction in security cases. In both case studies, the respective timeline of events and the social media impacts on the rhizomatic ‘spam’ information context are analysed. It is argued that the rhizomatic way in which junk information spreads within social media is comparable to a ‘spam world’. The main objective of spam is to compel  someone  to  act  the  way  the  spammer  wants.  This  spam  world  results  from  a technologized infrastructure that facilitates social media interaction without a proper understanding of the context of events and how individuals influence each other.


AUTHORS

Photo of Dr. Aki-Mauri Huhtinen, (LTC [GS])

Finnish National Defence University Helsinki
Finland

Dr. Aki-Mauri Huhtinen, (LTC [GS]) is a military professor at the Finnish National Defence University in the Department of Leadership and Military Pedagogy. His areas of expertise are military leadership, command and control, information warfare, the philosophy of science in military organizational research, and the philosophy of war. He has published peer-reviewed journal articles, a book chapter and books on information warfare and non-kinetic influence in the battle space. He has also organized and led several research and development projects in the Finnish Defence Forces during 2005-22.

 

Photo of Dr. Jari Rantapelkonen

Finnish National Defence University
Helsinki, Finland

Dr. Jari Rantapelkonen, (LTC, retired) is a professor emeritus at the Finnish National Defence University, Helsinki, Finland. His expertise areas include operational art and tactics, military leadership, information warfare, and the philosophy of war.  He has served in Afghanistan, the Balkans, and the Middle East. He is a mayor at the Enontekiö county, Finland in the Arctic area.

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Keywords

A

AI
APT

C

C2
C2S
CDX
CIA
CIP
CPS

D

DNS
DoD
DoS

I

IA
ICS

M

S

SOA

X

XRY

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