Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away.

Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet. Terrorists livestream their attacks, “Twitter wars” produce real-world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations. The result is that war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of digital battlespace that plays out on our smartphones.

P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mind-bending questions that arise when this online conflict goes to war. They explore how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens. What can be kept secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the truth or bury it? And what role do ordinary people now play in international conflicts?

Delving into the web’s darkest corners, we meet the unexpected warriors of social media, such as the rapper turned jihadist PR czar and the Russian hipsters who wage unceasing infowars against the West. Finally, looking to the crucial years ahead, LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of our networked world.

LikeWar is an essential guide to the new rules of power in an age of digital conflict, revealing:

• The New Digital Battlespace: Explore how terrorists like ISIS copy the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, internet trolls shape elections, and online feuds produce real-world casualties.
• State-Sponsored Information Warfare: Uncover the darkest corners of the web, from the Russian hipsters waging infowars against the West to China’s use of a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens.
• The End of Secrecy: Confront the mind-bending questions of our networked world: what can be kept secret, does social media expose the truth or bury it, and what is the role of ordinary people in international conflicts?
• A Citizen’s Defense Manual: Learn a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of weaponized social media, where the most important battles are only a click away.

P. W. SINGER is an expert on twenty-first-century warfare. His award-winning nonfiction books include the New York Times bestseller Wired for War.

EMERSON T. BROOKING is a Resident Fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council. His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic, and Rolling Stone.