The Russian and Ukrainian conflict in the context of social network information warfare: the experts’ approach

Abstract

Changes in the culture of political communication caused by mediatization are discussed in this article. It investigates how the development of IT and the popularity of social networks have changed the purpose of various media. Nowadays social networks are becoming the main tool for sending important news quickly. However, those news which are directed to a mass public are not sufficiently filtered and controlled. It was determined that social networks’ environment is actively used as a weapon in information wars, particularly by trolls aiming to mislead the user. The article describes how information warfare in social networks is carried out and how this differs from information warfare in other media. The article explains the nature of trolls, their goals, scheme of action, evolution, and changes in their operations.