Security Challenges for Social Media Users and Platforms

Mini Track Chair: Professor Maria-Magdelana Popescu Dr. Habil, Carol I National Defence University, Bucharest, Romania

Social Media platforms have become an important part of daily life for many users. This along with the proliferation of unconventional weapons triggered by technological progress has raised the threat level for individuals and society through the uncertainty generated by managing words and images, through AI algorithms and through social engineering techniques. Also, the rapid growth of social media has allowed for the information to be disseminated and identified in a reckless manner. Deepfakes, centred on economic or political attacks, and fake news, acting on democracy and social systems, are the products that state and non-state actors use, aimed at weakening security in general and human security in particular. Moreover, deep fake and fake news as main instruments for hybrid warfare have become important topics for security culture. In terms of human security, social media generates a series of advantages, yet whatever is developed through the hostile use of these networks generates a series of threats for societies. On the other hand, the globalisation of information, the volatilization of typographic texts and the infinity of dialogic possibilities along with the inordinate opportunities to reinvent ourselves generate alternative means of expression that co-exist with the traditional ones, to meet gratification for an identity shaped out of social and professional interaction. The message, seen as a dynamic interaction environment, acts upon the whole architecture of ties and constructs relationships differently. Polarisation, syndicalisation and radicalisation are identity dynamics phenomena in a fluid environment. Starting from these aspects, the present mini track provides a stage for a general understanding on the implications that social media challenges have on human security.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

● cognitive warfare and the battles of strategic narratives

● technological progress – a threat to individuals and society

● weaponization of social media in the information warfare

● hybrid warfare actions and actors use in social media

● polarisation and radicalisation as identity dynamics in a fluid environment

● politics and international relations use of social media

● platform responsibility for security on social media