information war
Weaponized truth battles
Information war is conflict waged through the control, manipulation, or weaponization of information rather than conventional military force.
It encompasses propaganda, disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks on communication systems, and efforts to shape public perception: The election became an information war fought on social media.
The term gained prominence with the rise of digital media, where state and non-state actors compete to control narratives, undermine trust, and influence populations without firing a shot.
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- psyopsStrategic manipulation of adversaries' thinking
- trollDeliberate online antagonist
- troll farmOrganized disinformation operation
- botAutomated software agent
fake account · fake news · cyber · hacking · state actor · narrative · manipulation · censorship · viral · meme · deepfake · influence · kremlin · hybrid warfare · election · social media · leak · whistleblower
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- Cold War Dissentdissidents, samizdat, refuseniks, defectors, Radio Free Europe
- Post-Communismpostcommunism, Soviet collapse, Berlin Wall fall, democratization, market reforms
information warconventional war
Armed conflict between states
armed conflict · shooting war · hot war · ground war · traditional warfare
information wartruth-telling
Communicating only facts
journalistic integrity · free press · public education · civic discourse · press freedom
information, inform, informed, informing, informer, informant, informative, misinform, misinformation