Information War, Social Media, and Threats to Democracy

資訊戰、社群媒體、與對民主的威脅

吳俊德(Jun-deh Wu)

《亞洲政經與和平研究》 1期 (2019/08) Pp. 27-53

摘要

This paper discusses the threats posed by disinformation disseminated via social media. At the beginning, disinformation is introduced in the context of information war. Next, three features of social media facilitating the dissemination of disinformation are identified. They are: (1) the algorithms which convert popularity into legitimacy; (2) the echo chamber effect which perpetuates biased views; and (3) the distribution of ＂dark ads＂ to targeted users. As for the threats to democracy, in the short-term, disinformation aims to create a political environment favorable to the perpetrator. This can be accomplished by either meddling in election or creating chaos in the society. In the long-run, disinformation aims to generate cynicism among the citizenry to paralyze a democracy. After addressing the threats, three examples of disinformation operation targeting Taiwan are described. In conclusion, measures to counter disinformation are raised. This paper suggests that the government can preempt disinformation operations in the short-term, and reconcile social divisions in the long-run. More importantly, social media enterprises have the responsibility to stop dissemination of disinformation. In addition to delete fake accounts, they should take actions to revise algorithms and to refuse to distribute advertisements involving disinformation.

關鍵字

information war ； disinformation ； social media ； echo chamber

並列摘要

本篇論文討論經由社群媒體傳播的惡意不實資訊，如何對民主造成威脅。首先，本文從資訊戰的脈絡來理解惡意不實資訊。其次，本文列舉社群媒體有助於傳播惡意不實資訊的三個特徵，分別是（1）將人氣轉化為正當性的演算法；（2）同溫層效應導致偏見長存；（3）針對特定使用者的「暗黑」廣告。第三，對民主的威脅方面分成短期與長期。在短期中，惡意不實資訊想要創造對操縱者有利的政治環境，通常以干擾選舉或製造社會混亂的方式為之；長期而言，惡意不實資訊要讓民眾對政治制度及領導人失去信任或心灰意冷，以達到癱瘓民主政治的目的。在第四部分，本文舉出三則在台灣散布的惡意不實資訊作為例子。最後，本文提出反制惡意不實資訊的一些方式。作者以為，在短期中政府可以先發制人的方式防範惡意不實資訊；長期則必須消弭社會分歧。更重要的是，社群媒體業者必須承擔社會責任。除了刪除假帳號以外，業者應該要修正其演算法，並拒絕投送含有惡意不實資訊的廣告。

並列關鍵字

資訊戰 ； 惡意不實資訊 ； 社群媒體 ； 同溫層