LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Two protection consultants discover the collision of battle, politics, and social media, the place crucial battles at the moment are solely a click on away.

Through the weaponization of social media, the web is altering battle and politics, simply as battle and politics are altering the web. Terrorists livestream their assaults, “Twitter wars” produce actual‑world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not simply the end result of battles, however the very destiny of nations. The result’s that battle, tech, and politics have blurred into a brand new variety of battlespace that performs out on our smartphones.

P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking sort out the thoughts‑bending questions that come up when battle goes on-line and the net world goes to battle. They discover how ISIS copies the Instagram ways of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils battle crimes 1000’s of miles away, web trolls form elections, and China makes use of a smartphone app to police the ideas of 1.4 billion residents. What could be stored secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the reality or bury it? And what position do strange individuals now play in worldwide conflicts?

Delving into the online’s darkest corners, we meet the surprising warriors of social media, such because the rapper turned jihadist PR czar and the Russian hipsters who wage unceasing infowars towards the West. Finally, seeking to the essential years forward, LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending towards the unprecedented threats of our networked world.