ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the case of the disinformation campaign against the United Nation (UN) Global Compact for Migration and argues that the potential challenge international organisations may face as result of digital disinformation is manufactured delegitimation. According to these two bodies of literature, motivation is the key factor in explaining the eagerness with which digital disinformation has been embraced by both state and non-state actors. Inherent tensions between IOs and member states could be digitally exploited in a manner that is qualitatively distinct from the usual process of political contestation, hence the focus on the notion of “manufactured delegitimation.” State actors have discovered, for instance, that digital disinformation could be useful for influencing foreign elections or deterring foreign governments from pursuing certain policies. The mechanism by which digital disinformation is supposed to work in all these cases is similar.
