Disinformation in Hybrid Warfare: The Rhizomatic Speed of Social Media in the Spamosphere

摘要

In this paper, two case studies are analysed, namely Finland's Rapid Reaction Force and the arrest of a Russian citizen in Finland at the request of U.S. officials. A so-called rhizomatic focus (Deleuze and Guattari 1983) is adopted to assess social networking spam and the implications that this phenomenon has for interaction in security cases. In both case studies, the respective timeline of events and the social media impacts on the rhizomatic 'spam' information context are analysed. It is argued that the rhizomatic way in which junk information spreads within social media is comparable to a 'spam world'. The main objective of spam is to compel someone to act the way the spammer wants. This spam world results from a technologized infrastructure that facilitates social media interaction without a proper understanding of the context of events and how individuals influence each other.