Fake News - Threat to National Security and Defence Cover Image

Fake News - Threat to National Security and Defence
Fake News - Threat to National Security and Defence

Author(s): Sorina Ana Manea
Subject(s): Security and defense, Military policy
Published by: Centrul tehnic-editorial al armatei
Keywords: fake news; democracy; propaganda; subversion; security and national defence;
Summary/Abstract: In the last four years, fake news has overtaken the cancan and the mundane world to beused as a “weapon” in the arsenal of social manipulation.Fake news is today a very effective tool by which democratic institutions are eroded and thestate entities demonized.Although most often the identity of the perpetrator, of the one who triggers a fake newsdirectly or through a software application, is unknown, the state must fulfil its obligation tomaintain national security and to ensure the nation’s defence, as well as to guarantee theexercise of the fundamental rights and freedoms of man and, increasingly, the obligation toguarantee the right of citizens to be properly and truthfully informed.The eradication of the fourth power, by shifting information from professionalism to the“tweet” news, makes these state obligations much more difficult to fulfil.This article brings to the readers’ attention a series of effects generated by fake news andhow they have or can have an impact on national security and national defence.