By Br. Khan Ab. Ghaffar Khan
With wars arise new challenges, and amongst the foremost challenge that the world faces today is that of disinformation during warfare. There was a time when tanks and infantry infiltration into an enemy territory decided the fate of wars but now the social media is the only factor that matters. Recently, when India attacked targets in Pakistan on May 6 leading to four-day war between the two nuclear belligerents, it used propaganda machines to spread panic and disinformation via viable platforms of social networking sites.
The propagandists used old footages of natural disaster events, building fires and clips from Russo-Ukraine war while depicting them as sites of impact in Pakistan. Thanks to the Pakistani young netizens who countered such misinformation by proving the truth.
Similar patterns of disinformation can be seen arising out from the Iran-Israel war. The Internet platforms are flooded with the deluge of information, mostly false, but with alarming buy out from the public, that lack means and capacity to decipher the truth, especially when technological advancement like AI has made it difficult. The experts believe, there is a less scope available for facts to be believed as people find their desired narrative being paddled door to door and simply share it in a matter of a click without caring for the consequences that false information can cause.
‘’The AI induced impersonationis not only misleading but also highly controversial as it leads to hatred and bias and may, at times, culminate into an untoward action by the masses that believe it to be accurate’’.
One of another challenge emanating out from the age of disinformation is the unavailability of platforms to mitigate or counter the spread of disinformation. As the parties to war have equal access to Internet and the social media gadgets, they are in a position to exploit the same in their favor, especially when they have strong support base lying with the public.
It has been seen that the formal modes of media such as TV channels and newspapers have been maneuvered by the host states to censor the information or blackout some pieces. This act creates a vacuum of accurate information only to be filed by disinformation campaigns further leading to chaos.
The challenge of disinformation is indiscriminately affecting every country that finds itself involved in the warfare. The ramifications include a polarized, biased, and antagonists society that sooner or later will transmute in a cult. The concurrent hostilities amongst the warring states proffers no respite and sans heed to a wise counsel. It is very much need of the day that the world leaders sit together to prevent the further destruction of humanity and reach tangible solutions. In case of Iran-Israel, the aggressor one, being Israel, should be penalized for acting against International law, humanitarian principles, and settled norms. However, if realism were to be implemented as opposed to liberalism then unfortunately, the weaker states will continue to fall victim to the aggression of the larger ones.
