We have talked much about 5GW and how the idea of warfare has now changed in modern times. Now the online battlefield is as important as the physical. In this thread, I will review the book "LikeWar: The weaponization of Social Media".

1/n
The election of President Trump has changed diplomacy forever. Diplomacy is now becoming more public. A couple of months after becoming Prime Minister, Imran Khan had a twitter spat with Trump, which was a sign of things to come: Aggressive foreign policy assertion online.
2/n
Not just diplomats or heads of states, the entire populations are now part of the war of perceptions. For instances, we noticed the tweet war post-Pulwama attack and the subsequent capture of Abhinandhan.
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Military theorist Clausewitz says, winning a war is a matter of finding and neutralizing an adversary's center of gravity. Spirit of the people is a center gravity and propaganda breaks it. Social media today has changed dynamics of war. Anyone with a smartphone can do this.
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Internet today has become a battlefield where information is the weapon. From the most powerful countries to the ones with very little resources, everyone can take part in some capacity. Internet has reshaped war, and now war will reshape internet.
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These new wars are not won by missiles or bombs, but by those who can frame a better narrative.
6/n
There are 5 core principles of this war
1. The internet has left adolescence
2. The internet has become a battlefield
3. This battlefield changes how conflicts are fought
4. This battle changes what “war” means
5. We’re all part of this war
7/n
During Operation Neptune Spear an unlikely event happened involving a Pakistani who didn't know that he was revolutionizing internet. Sohaib Athar was live-tweeting a top-secret operation through his twitter.
8/n
Sohaib Athar's accidental tweeting revealed that nothing could now remain secret if one of the most secret operations in human history got live-tweeted. Secrets now come with a half-life.
9/n
Owing to multiple sensors in our phones, all the information we post online come with a "metadata" that reveals more about us than what meets the eye.
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Sometimes it takes a keen observer to get additional information. Once some tourists snapping a Chinese harbor accidentally revealed secrets of their navy's new aircraft carrier under construction.
11/n
Nothing truly disappears online. We are in an age in which forgetting doesn't exist anymore.
12/n
Bellingcat displayed the remarkable power of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). They found the missile vehicle that hit the MH17 aircraft and traced the soldiers that were deployed through Russian social media VK. All this intelligence was gathered from the internet.
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With social media, now 90% of useful intelligence can be gathered online and the most remarkable truth is, it is available to everyone who is interested in finding it.
14/n
In 2016 US elections, Russia was trying to influence the US presidential elections through an army of online bots, which gives us a fair idea of how much do world powers value this new dimension of warfare.
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Deliberate disinformation has been around for quite sometime. A story was planted by KGB in an India front newspaper using a fake author. This is similar to the recently revealed disinformation campaign by India against Pakistan reported by @DisinfoEU.
16/n
Today, Russia has a very strong propaganda channels and websites in the form of RT and Sputnik that presents its one-sided narrative to the world. In this age of information warfare, such networks have not only become a necessity, but are also giving nations an advantage.
17/n
To counter Russian involved in the MH17 crash as revealed by Bellingcat, Russian propaganda machine pitched at least half a dozen theories. It didn't matter if all these theories contradicted each other, the point was to create doubt about the theory that harmed Russia.
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The network of TV channels and websites are not the only way Russia does propaganda, it also makes use of web brigades or troll factories. Real users sit behind multiple fake accounts "trolling" anyone online who disagrees with Russia's position and shaping online opinion.
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These "sockpuppets" could take multiple forms, an organizer of a trusted group, a news source or a respected individual. It is not easy to tell if one spreading information is a genuine account or someone sitting in St Petersburg is operating it.
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The most common form of cheating on social media is the fake followers, likes and retweets. Politicians, journalists and anyone who wants to be an influencer online buys them to increase their online value.
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Algorithm manipulation is one of the techniques used to influence online debate. Thousands of bot accounts take over certain hashtags and keywords. To a layman, they look like real people tweeting in favor of something and they get influenced.
22/n
Authenticity sells on social media, controlled authenticity sells even more. A test case is the twitter usage of Trump. Though he was breaking every political rule of presidency and appearing presidential, his supporters resonated with him because he was authentic.
23/n
Conclusions: 1) Governments need to take online world seriously now. Social media is the future of political, economic and civic life. Government cannot make a mistake of not being involved. 2) information literacy is no longer merely an education issue but a..
24/n
national security imperative. Countering disinformation online,especially from an enemy is now crucial. 3) Social media now needs rules to help counter what is considered a harmful behavior. The big tech giants are already filtering many things, governments will soon get involved
For further reading, here is a great article:

26/n https://twitter.com/shobz/status/1336947147628011520
Here is an urdu book review of "LikeWar: The Weaponization of social media" by
@IkJustuju
27/n
Pakistan has a lot of ground to cover in this new kind of warfare. We need an institutionalized effort to counter what is hitting us from where we least expect. It is time to move ahead of just being right about pointing towards 5GW attacks. It is time to do it.
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