(Mis)Information Operations: An Integrated Perspective

TL;DR

This paper explores how social media influences user cognition and social dynamics, contributing to misinformation spread, and proposes an integrated research approach considering future technological impacts.

Contribution

It offers a holistic perspective on misinformation operations, emphasizing cognitive biases, social polarization, and a comprehensive future research roadmap.

Findings

Confirmation bias reinforces community polarization

Social media fosters echo chambers and misinformation spread

The phenomenon is more complex than previously understood

Abstract

The massive diffusion of social media fosters disintermediation and changes the way users are informed, the way they process reality, and the way they engage in public debate. The cognitive layer of users and the related social dynamics define the nature and the dimension of informational threats. Users show the tendency to interact with information adhering to their preferred narrative and to ignore dissenting information. Confirmation bias seems to account for users decisions about consuming and spreading content; and, at the same time, aggregation of favored information within those communities reinforces group polarization. In this work, the authors address the problem of (mis)information operations with a holistic and integrated approach. Cognitive weakness induced by this new information environment are considered. Moreover, (mis)information operations, with particular reference to the Italian context, are considered; and the fact that the phenomenon is more complex than expected is highlighted. The paper concludes by providing an integrated research roadmap accounting for the possible future technological developments.