THE USE OF FAKE ACCOUNTS AS A TOOL OF SPECIAL INFORMATION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATION DURING THE UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN WAR

Abstract

The 21st century has been marked by new methods of information warfare. Manipulation of consciousness and influence on the thoughts and decisions of the population successfully support armed methods of warfare. A distorted and deliberately false portrayal of events affects their acceptance by the population and, as a consequence, sows doubt and mistrust in the victory in the war, generates aggression and hatred towards other nations and strengthens discrimination. At the same time, the information may be presented in such a way that those affected by the information influence will consider its consequences to be those caused by their own decisions, the only possible and correct ones. Fake news (from the English word «fake») is false information that is purposely disseminated by interested parties who pursue their (usually political) goals or who want to earn money from Internet traffic. This article is devoted to a relatively new tool of information warfare against Ukraine – fake accounts and bot farms, their general characteristics and methods of counteracting this phenomenon on the Internet as an effective tool of SIPO during russia's full-scale invasion of our land. The study regulates the peculiarities of the formation, impact and operation of bots and bot farms, their signs and properties, provides examples of the use of fake information, and provides recommendations for recognising fake messages and resources. Attention is drawn to the importance of combating this, especially when our country is waging a heroic struggle against the invaders who use all types of struggle against us: from armed to informational, using against us and not allowed methods.