Alessandro Accorsi: Disinformation Warfare in the Middle East
Feb 13, 2025
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Alessandro Accorsi, a senior analyst for social media and conflict at the International Crisis Group, dives deep into disinformation warfare in the Middle East. He explores how social media is weaponized in conflicts, highlighting its role in the 2017 Qatari rift and the Libyan civil war. Accorsi discusses the severe impact of misinformation on civilian safety and humanitarian efforts, particularly in Gaza and Syria. He emphasizes the need for robust media practices to combat these threats and advocates for a healthier information landscape to ensure public safety.
Information operations effectively undermine national stability and complicate peace efforts by controlling narratives and influencing public opinion during conflicts.
The evolving landscape of disinformation, with smaller private networks leveraging advanced technologies, challenges attribution and complicates the promotion of truthful information.
Deep dives
The Cost-Effectiveness of Information Operations in Conflict
Information operations are recognized as a cost-effective means in warfare and conflict, serving to undermine national stability and complicate peace efforts. Countries employ these operations to control narratives and influence public opinion both domestically and internationally. For example, Gulf states utilize influence campaigns to strengthen their regional dominance, while Egypt focuses primarily on managing its internal information landscape. The ongoing conflicts in places like Gaza and the dynamics between Morocco and Algeria illustrate how these narratives shape conflicts without requiring physical confrontation.
The Distinction Between Misinformation and Disinformation
Misinformation and disinformation serve different purposes in the information ecosystem, each playing a role in the broader narrative landscape. Misinformation may arise innocently, such as an individual sharing misleading information unintentionally, while disinformation involves deliberate efforts to deceive and manipulate public perception. This distinction is crucial, as the two often coexist, with disinformation exploiting the existing waves of misinformation. Understanding this relationship helps to clarify how narratives can spread and gain traction, especially in conflict environments.
The Impact of Disinformation on Civilian Lives in Conflict Zones
Disinformation operations can have severe consequences for civilians, especially in contexts of active conflict where reliable information impacts decision-making. In areas like Gaza and Sudan, misinformation can mislead civilians about where to find safety or aid, prolonging suffering and risking lives. These operations not only serve strategic military purposes but can also disrupt humanitarian efforts, complicating the delivery of aid to those in need. As conflicts evolve, understanding the implications of disinformation on civilian safety should be a priority in addressing humanitarian crises.
Emerging Trends and Future Challenges in Information Warfare
The landscape of disinformation is evolving, with a shift from state-sponsored accounts to smaller networks often linked with private entities, complicating the attribution of influence operations. Advanced technologies and AI are expected to enhance the ability of these networks to create propaganda, making them more difficult to detect and trace back to a specific source. Recent conflicts showcase how misinformation campaigns can emerge rapidly and target specific narratives to affect public perception significantly. This new corporate model for disinformation presents significant challenges for both policy-makers and societies seeking to promote truthful information in an increasingly fragmented media environment.
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Alessandro Accorsi, a senior analyst for social media and conflict at the International Crisis Group. Prior to joining ICG, he worked for five years at the European External Action Service, where he led a taskforce countering foreign interference and information manipulation in the Middle East. He also worked for five years as a freelance journalist in Cairo.