Information Operation

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Information Operation link (Deception, Fraud, Propaganda, Statecraft, Information warfare) Sourcewatch
Type	Idea

Information operations, also known as influence operations or IO, are campaigns in the field of and information warfare, dedicated to obtaining a decisive advantage in the information environment, which includes social media. Part of it is the collection of information about an adversary, then the dissemination of propaganda in pursuit of a competitive advantage over the opponent.

Information operations can and are directed against domestic audiences as well.

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“In the battle of perception management, where the enemy is clearly using the media to help manage perceptions of the general public, our job is not perception management but to counter the enemy's perception management,”
Lawrence Di Rita (December 2004) 

Astroturf

Astroturfing is a method that can be used to make belief that there exists support for one idea or another, when in actuality that support is simulated by the use of sock puppet accounts on a massive scale. "AI technology" can be employed.

"Cyberwarfare"

IO has strong overlap with "Cyberwarfare".

US military definition

IO is defined by the US military as “the integrated employment, during military operations, of information-related capabilities in concert with other lines of operation to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp the decision-making of adversaries and potential adversaries while protecting our own.” This could mean among other things: spreading of false information, impersonation, denying network access (Internet/local) and destruction of hardware. The former two more are in the range of IO, the later two in the range of cyber attacks/war. In other words, "IO can be performed in any domain, including cyberspace. An airplane dropping leaflets with a message aimed to influence an audience is conducting IO (psychological ops) without using cyberspace. Similarly, operations in cyberspace are not limited to IO. Manipulating an enemy airport computer system to disable the fuel pumps is a cyberspace operation, but not an example of IO".

References