The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Daily: ‘War in the Smartphone Age,’ with Matthew Ford
Aug 27, 2025
Matthew Ford, an Associate Professor at the Swedish Defence University and author of “War in the Smartphone Age,” shares insights on how smartphones revolutionize warfare. He discusses the impact of social media in distorting war narratives and the role of open-source intelligence in modern conflicts. The conversation highlights how tech changes military logistics and enables participatory warfare, especially in crises like Ukraine. Ford emphasizes the need for critical evaluation in consuming war-related content online.
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Civilian Digital Stack As Battlespace
- Civilian digital infrastructures shape what militaries consider valuable targets and how wars are fought.
- The 21st-century battlespace centers on the civilian digital "stack" more than traditional front lines.
Smartphone Saturation Fuels Data Abundance
- Smartphone and network penetration exploded globally: billions of active subscriptions and devices now exist.
- That saturation produces massive data and forensic footprints that change how conflicts are observed and recorded.
Social Feeds Collapse Context
- Social feeds collapse temporal and geographic context, making disparate events appear linked.
- Algorithms reorder content so viewers may misread causality or chronology in war reporting.
