#TheWeaponizationOfSocialMedia About the book: In today’s confl ict environment, transformed by information technology and of who can communicate and how, states, non-state actors, ad hoc activist networks and individuals create effect(s) in and through social network media. #TheWeaponizationOfSocialMedia develops a framework to understand how social network media shapes global politics and contemporary confl icts by examining their role as a plat- form for conduction intelligence collection, targeting, cyber-operations, psychological warfare and command and control activities. Through these, the weaponization of social media shows both the possibilities #TheWeaponizationOfSocialMedia and the limitations of social network media in contemporary confl icts and makes a contribution to theorizing and studying contemporary @Characteristics_of_ confl icts. Contemporary_Confl icts About the author: Thomas Elkjer Nissen, MA, M.sc., has from 2001 worked at the Royal Danish Defence College (RDDC) as a Military Analyst responsible for Strategic Communication (StratCom), Cyber-Warfare, Information Op- erations (Info Ops) and Psychological Operations (PsyOps). In that ca- pacity he conducts research, teaches and advises in the above fi elds of work. He has acted as course director and developer of courses - and seminars at the RDDC as well as acted as high level advisor both nationally and within NATO. He has previously published a series of Thomas ElkjerNissen, journal articles, book chapters and research papers on the topics. Resent works include writings on “Strategy and Strategic Communica- tion”, “Narrative Led Operations”, “Islamic State´s Media Warfare” and “The Weaponization of Social Media” Royal Danish Defence College DanishDefence Royal Thomas Elkjer Nissen #TheWeaponizationOfSocialMedia @Characteristics_of_ Contemporary_Conflicts By Thomas Elkjer Nissen Royal Danish Defence College 2015 Thomas Elkjer Nissen (ed.) #TheWeaponizationOfSocialMedia - @Characteristics_of_ Contemporary_Conflicts © Royal Danish Defence College All rights reserved. Mechanical, photographic or other reproduction or photocopying from this book or parts thereof is only allowed according to agreements between The Danish Defence and CopyDan. Any other use without written consent from the Royal Danish Defence College is illegal according to Danish law on intellectual property right. Excepted are short extracts for reviews in newspapers or the like. Copenhagen March 2015 Royal Danish Defence College Ryvangs Allé 1 DK-2100 Copenhagen Denmark Tel.: 3915 1515 Fax: 3929 6172 Editor in chief: Dean Ole Kværnø Printed in Denmark by Rosendahls A/S Front page photo: leopard2a HOK Layout: Bent-Ole Kure ISBN: 978-87-7147-098-7 CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ 4 DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... 6 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 8 2. THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK ................................................................15 3. SOCIAL MEDIA, CROSS-MEDIA AND NARRATIVES ................................35 4. EFFECTS-BASED THINKING ON SOCIAL MEDIA ....................................58 5. THE WEAPONIZATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA ............................................... 74 6. PERSPECTIVES .......................................................................................104 7. CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................122 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................125 END NOTES .....................................................................................................137 3 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. The information environment ..................................................... 24 Figure 3.1. Characteristics of social network media. ...................................38 Figure 3.2. Typology of social network media ..............................................38 Figure 3.3. Approaches to cross-media content coordination .....................43 Figure 3.4. Levels of narratives ..................................................................... 47 Figure 4.1. Activities and Effects framework. ............................................. 61 Figure 4.2. Targeting effects ...........................................................................62 Figure 4.3. Types of analysis .........................................................................64 Figure 4.4. Intelligence effects ......................................................................65 Figure 4.5. Operational effects.......................................................................67 Figure 4.6. Psychological warfare effects ....................................................70 Figure 4.7. Defence effects ............................................................................70 Figure 4.8. Command and Control effects ...................................................72 4 DEDICATION To my wife, Maria, for her tireless support throughout this effort. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank the staff of Royal Danish Defence College, several anonymous interviewees and contributors and especially Dr Steve Tatham and not least Dr William Mitchell (Royal Danish Defence College), for opinions, comments and input to earlier versions of this monograph. 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACO Allied Command Operation AOI Area of Interest BDA Bomb Damage Assessment C2 Command and Control C3A Communication, Collaboration, Coordination and Action CI Counter Intelligence DARPA Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency CENTCOM Central Command CNA Computer Network Attack CND Computer Network Defence CNE Computer Network Exploitation CMC Cross-Media Communication CNO Computer Network Operations CoG Centre of Gravity DC Decisive Conditions EBT Effects Based Thinking ENDF Electronic National Defence Force HFA Human Factor Analysis IA Information Assurance ICP Intelligence Collection Plan ICT Information and Communication Technology IDF Israeli Defence Forces IE Information Environment IHL International Humanitarian Law IO Information Operations (also abbreviated: Info Ops) International Organisation ISR Intelligence, Surveillance and Recognisance Lawfare Legal Warfare LIC Low Intensity Conflicts LOAC Laws of Armed Conflict MILDEC Military Deception MNF Multinational Force (Iraq) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation OAF Operation Allied Force OPSEC Operational Security OSINT Open Source Intelligence OUP Operation Unified Protector PA Public Affairs 6 PSYOPS Psychological Operations PsyWar Psychological Warfare RAT Remote Administration Tool RFI Request for Information ROE Rules of Engagement SA Situational Awareness SEA Syrian Electronic Army SIGINT Signals Intelligence SMS Short Message Service SOCMINT Social Media Intelligence TA Target Audience TAA Target Audience Analysis TCN Troop Contributing Nation UGC User Generated Content UK United Kingdom US United States UW Unconventional Warfare VOIP Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) VPN Virtual Private Networks 7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Social Network Media has become an integral part of the conflict environment over the past 15 years and longer. Starting with what has been labelled the first “internet-war”, that is, the Kosovo conflict in 1999, developments have steadily progressed ever since. Counter-insurgency campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, several conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbours, particularly with Hamas in the Gaza strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and events in connection with the Arab awakening (or spring), especially the during NATOs operations in Libya, the on-going civil war in Syria, and most recently during the crisis in Ukraine, the world has seen social network media being used more and more strategically by multiple state and non-state actors to create effects in both the virtual and physical domains. Western liberal democracies, however, still look at war in a classical manner and therefore fail to grasp the new realities of contemporary war and the nature of its goals. War is no longer about states against states (in the conventional sense), but about identity and identity claims, and about cosmopolitanism (inclusion) versus particularism (exclusion / nationalism). Contemporary wars are therefore more about control of the population and the political decision-making process than about control over territory. Contemporary wars are therefore not to be understood as an empirical category but rather as a logical framework in which to make sense of contemporary conflicts and their characteristics. Furthermore, as most conflicts and wars for western liberal democracies today are what is called “wars of choice”, requiring a high degree of legitimacy, and multiple non-state actors are struggling to mobilize support and find new ways of fighting asymmetrically, social network media seems to have become the weapon of choice.1 This is the case both because it is easy for nearly every (1) Weapon by definition according to William H. Boothby: “A weapon is an offensive capability that is applied, or that is intended or designed to be applied, to a military object