“It emphasizes the failures of Japan, an ally of the United States, and makes it appear that it will harm neighboring countries.”

These words were written in a report on the posting and spread of false information on a certain SNS.

The “likes” and “reposts” you all may have been manipulated by someone else.

Deepfakes are used in information warfare

“Anything that uses IT to deceive people is also false information.”

Akemi Koyama, group leader of the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), a specialized organization for information security, featured the “Threat of information dissemination, including false information, and trends in countermeasures” as a hot topic in the 2024 Information Security White Paper.

He points out that social confusion, division, and conflict have become increasingly serious in recent years due to the generation and spread of false information on the Internet.

“Cyber ​​information warfare, cognitive warfare, and threats are becoming major issues in cases such as guiding public opinion in elections, inciting slander, confusion over coronavirus countermeasures, and the spread of conspiracy theories.In cases such as armed conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, cyber information warfare, cognitive warfare, and threats are becoming major issues. It has become.”

A typical example is the image of a man rescuing children from rubble.

The way the people in the photo are connected seems unnatural, and it is said that the image was created using a deepfake.

The purpose of creating these images is to give the impression of “poor children suffering from war” and to emphasize the cruelty of the other party.

By arranging conveniently extracted facts and falsehoods, a story that is nothing more than a hypothetical is made to appear to be the correct story. Stories based on these intentions are called “narratives.”

“Information warfare” is carried out through information-manipulation-type cyber-attacks that aim to disrupt the enemy’s society and destroy trust in government agencies by spreading false information.

So how do they spread false information strategically? Mr. Koyama points out that human emotions and psychology are effectively used.