ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between digital information campaigns and strategic narratives. Social networks also create new ways to reach out and attack, even from thousands of miles away. Propagandists can identify a few dozen sympathizers out of a faraway population of millions and then groom them to attack their fellow citizens. The increased use of information campaigns is a consequence not only of the supposed ease with which these can now be mounted but also of increased awareness of the risks attached to open conflict. Much of the interest in both cyber and information campaigns stemmed from the assumption that states would prefer to pursue their objectives by means short of all-out war. Authoritarian regimes wish to control their information environment and have a low tolerance of dissident opinions, relying on censorship and repression. Digital information campaigns have become a routine feature of political affairs, including international conflicts.
