Information strategy in the war against disinformation: Survey of influential technology companies after the presidential elections in the USA in 2016
Vol.10,No.2(2018)
Purpose – The rapid development of information technologies with social networks has created an unprecedented environment in which disinformation and related information operations are recognized as very effective and devastating weapons of mass destruction. A purpose-driven disinformation campaign in cyberspace is able to influence results of democratic elections at the level of the world superpower. This is a very serious social issue and a problem for which there is no effective defense yet. Our objective is to map current approaches to combating disinformation from the viewpoint of technology platform operators whose platforms are misused to spread misinformation and suggest a simple classification model of defensive information strategies.
Design/methodology/approach – Focus is laid on how influential technology companies reacted to the landmark of the US presidential elections in 2016 in their processes, strategy and product visions. Our attention is limited to the area of social networks and limited by March 2018. This theoretical work is based on the following methodological approaches:
a) Document analyses of primary sources published by individual companies being monitored.
b) Media analyses of news sources covering situation from an information strategy viewpoint as well as the socio-cultural political context and triggers associated with this phenomenon.
Results – Based on the analyses of selected technology companies and socio-cultural political triggers we have defined a simple classification of information strategies for combating disinformation in online platforms. With this classification we derived a first version of a functional model, that hadn’t existed before. Strategy based on automated fact-checking systems with the support of artificial intelligence proofed to be the most vital.
Originality/value – Content mediators, publishers and their editors, have already received a significant amount of attention in many studies and analysis following a vast historical research in the area of media and communication. On the other hand, the view of the information strategy of a communications platform operator, which we are focusing on in our work, is in this context of the online world a new and still not very well researched area that brings new questions and challenges regarding the platform management from the perspectives of information management and information policy.disinformation; information operations; information strategy; war against disinformation; communication platforms; analyses of informatic strategies; model of information strategies against disinformation; classification of information strategies against
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