The hottest Information Warfare Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Digital Fog

Doomberg • 6819 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Viral videos and footage are often reused or misattributed during crises, so you can’t assume something is real just because it looks authentic or isn’t AI-made.
  2. Curating segmented social media feeds and even training a fresh account to follow one side’s sources helps reveal different narratives and spot disinformation.
  3. Comparing coverage across international outlets, including adversarial ones, uncovers details and biases that mainstream Western media may downplay or miss.

The (possibly) coming AI backlash and information warfare

Marcus on AI • 7469 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Information Warfare
  1. The AI boom could unravel next year as costs, weak economics, and poor regulation make big AI projects look unprofitable and prompt political and industry backtracking.
  2. Generative AI is exceptionally good at patient, amoral mimicry, making it a powerful tool for producing mis- and disinformation at scale.
  3. That surge in synthetic misinformation will erode public trust and create a fog of war where false pretexts can start or escalate conflicts and sow widespread chaos.

How America Surrendered Its Weapons in the Information War

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 264 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. There is a second front — an information war — against Iran and other rivals, and many experts worry the U.S. is ill-equipped to win it.
  2. Rousing public calls for Iranians to rise may not work if U.S. messages can't reliably reach or influence people inside Iran.
  3. The agencies meant to project American information power are in disarray, weakening that capability — for example, USAGM failed an audit because it couldn’t provide proper financial documentation.

Ongoing lawsuit between American and British info warfare contractors sheds light on scale of covert operations against Iran

All-Source Intelligence Fusion • 1119 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Court filings show a large, years‑long set of U.S. government‑backed covert information‑collection and influence programs aimed at Iran, with many program codenames dated from 2012 to 2020.
  2. Private contractors and shell companies — including U.S. and British firms and firms later bought or rebranded — carried out and supported these operations, and lawsuits and leaked documents exposed encrypted chats, program names, and payment disputes.
  3. The filings also reveal a global campaign of similar programs targeting many countries, using techniques like Wi‑Fi mapping, human and signals intelligence, market research, and influence activities often coordinated with U.S. agencies.

Cracks Begin to Show at Davos

DARK FUTURA • 8294 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Elites at Davos displayed fear and apprehension for the future direction of society.
  2. Short-term concern for mis/disinformation and long-term focus on climate challenges dominated discussions.
  3. Globalists at Davos showed signs of internal division and dissent, challenging the traditional narrative.
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China’s Stealth War Has Already Begun

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 881 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. China is running a coordinated, stealth campaign to weaken the U.S. across economic, technological, informational, diplomatic, and gray-zone military areas while avoiding open warfare.
  2. The Chinese state uses subsidies, forced technology transfers, and state-directed investments to seize control of critical supply chains and strategic industries like rare earths, batteries, pharmaceuticals, and advanced sensors.
  3. Beijing also manipulates international institutions, pressures allies, and exploits platforms and algorithms to shape global opinion and keep the U.S. divided and unsure how to respond.

How I Won a Disinformation Battle — But Lost the War

The Garden of Forking Paths • 2358 implied HN points • 14 Jun 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. Disinformation can be spread effectively by creating simple, captivating narratives.
  2. False information tends to stick in people's minds, even after being corrected.
  3. Debunking lies is important, but it's crucial to present the truth in a way that resonates with the audience and to address disinformation strategically.

New: Shocking From Taibbi

FOIA Around And Find Out • 1493 implied HN points • 19 Feb 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. Some Twitter accounts were banned without a clear explanation, leading to suspicion of being flagged for political reasons.
  2. State Department officials requested Twitter to remove accounts based on claims of being Russian-controlled, without concrete evidence.
  3. The situation raises concerns about information warfare and the targeting of accounts for sharing content related to Russiagate or Hunter Biden.

The Invisible Battlefield: AI, Cognitive Warfare, and the Battle for Your Mind (#PsyWar)

Who is Robert Malone • 9 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Information Warfare
  1. AI chatbots run on hidden system prompts and designer values, so their answers can consistently shape how people think and act like large-scale propaganda.
  2. Small, targeted data poisoning and RAG attacks can quietly make models give manipulated or false answers, and those poisoned signals are hard to detect and can spread across systems and future model generations.
  3. Treating cognition as an intelligence domain — COGINT and fifth-generation warfare — turns minds into a battlefield, so people and policymakers need epistemic sovereignty and institutions to protect information environments.

The Hyper-Structure of War and Interstitial Conflicts

Dr. Pippa's Pen & Podcast • 45 implied HN points • 29 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. Many modern wars are interstitial — they’re not just local fights but reflect deep internal conflicts within powerful countries, especially the US, and events abroad can be treated as shrapnel from that domestic struggle.
  2. The US is split into two broad coalitions: the Custodians, who defend the post‑WWII global order (big corporations, tech, and the security establishment), and the Populists, who push for national industrial power and are willing to break old rules to preserve sovereignty.
  3. These factions fight through proxies, covert actions, lawfare, and narrative warfare, turning foreign conflicts and domestic incidents into battlegrounds for their rivalry, which often prioritizes loyalty over truth and increases the risk of escalation.

New York Times’ ridiculous attack on me exposes its deceitful propaganda tactics

Geopolitical Economy Report • 637 implied HN points • 15 Apr 22
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. The New York Times published a smear piece attacking an independent journalist, Benjamin Norton, without giving him a chance to comment, revealing a history of false propaganda tactics.
  2. The article dismissed factual statements about the US-sponsored coup in Ukraine as 'conspiracy theory,' despite evidence of US government involvement in coups worldwide.
  3. Prominent voices like University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer have acknowledged the US government's role in starting the war in Ukraine, while mainstream media attempts to dismiss these truths as 'conspiracy theories.'

Propaganda Made in China

The Outpost • 98 implied HN points • 13 Nov 23
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Conflicting narratives in world events create murky waters.
  2. Propaganda is constructed as memetic ordnance in a meme war economy.
  3. Engagement in world affairs will fall into three categories: direct participant, detached spectator, or mindless amplifier of narratives.

The East Is Rising – Or Is It? Plus “Obituary Pirates,” Russian Information Warfare “Strategy Without Design,” The New Climate Denial, and How Libraries Arm the Elderly Against Disinformation

Natto Thoughts • 59 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Russia is projecting confidence in alliances with China and the Global South to undermine the West's dominance in the world financial system.
  2. China's support for Russia has limits, and Chinese intentions may not align with Moscow's grandiose visions.
  3. Russian information warfare strategy focuses on influencing enemy populations and governments to disrupt their ability to resist aggression, with a shift toward proxy operations and strategic use of social media influencers.

The Revolution Will Be Cognitive

Weaponized • 59 implied HN points • 05 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. Our freedom today is often threatened not by visible forces, but by subtle manipulations through technology and media. It's important to recognize how these influences can control our thoughts and behavior.
  2. Cognitive independence is crucial. Everyone should have the right to think freely, seek the truth, and make informed choices without coercion or deception.
  3. To protect our minds and freedoms, we need to become aware of manipulation tactics and actively defend our thinking against them. This fight for cognitive liberty affects all other freedoms we value.

Let's "Unfriend" Facebook

Diane Francis • 619 implied HN points • 22 Feb 21
đź•ą Technology Information Warfare
  1. Facebook's response to Australia's push for media regulation shows their arrogant power. They blocked important information and media, which raises questions about their respect for democracy.
  2. The company's early financial backing from Russian investors highlights concerns about privacy and user data exploitation. This money helped transform Facebook into a tool for propagating various ideologies.
  3. Facebook's history of blocking content and censoring users, especially in oppressive regimes, indicates a troubling disregard for free speech. The company often reacts slowly to criticism and legal issues, making it seem like they prioritize profit over ethics.

“State-in-a-Smartphone” App Helps Ukraine Weather War and Counter Corruption

Natto Thoughts • 39 implied HN points • 02 Jun 23
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Diia app in Ukraine is a prime example of effectively utilizing international aid money and technical savvy to enhance digital governance and counter corruption.
  2. The app has evolved to support citizens during wartime, offering various tools for evacuation, financial support, and information dissemination.
  3. Ukraine's focus on transforming into a non-corrupt, modern state through initiatives like Diia reflects its determination to build a resilient, tech-savvy economy with potential for global export of innovative solutions.

Disrupt and Demoralize, Deniably

Natto Thoughts • 19 implied HN points • 13 Oct 23
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Russian military hackers use hacktivist personas like Solntsepek to disrupt and demoralize by hacking and leaking data to discredit Ukraine's government.
  2. The Solntsepek campaign exemplifies the GRU disruptive playbook, combining cyber attacks to damage institutions with information operations to boast of achievements and demoralize victims.
  3. Russian cyber-enabled information operations aim to sway elections; such operations are coordinated efforts between GRU hackers and state media to influence target populations and decision-makers.

Shen Weiguang – Father of China’s Information Warfare Theory, Who Could not Type

Natto Thoughts • 19 implied HN points • 09 Jun 23
đź’ľ History Information Warfare
  1. The concept of information warfare was introduced in China in the mid-1980s by Shen Weiguang, a self-taught military strategist who became known as the father of China's information warfare theory despite facing initial skepticism from publishers and having no military rank or affiliation.
  2. Shen Weiguang's interest in information warfare was sparked during his time at the frontline of the Battle of Laoshan, where he envisioned a more civilized form of warfare in the information age, leading him to publish his Information Warfare book in 1990.
  3. In 1998, Shen Weiguang made a global debut at the Ars Electronica Festival, showcasing his expertise in information warfare despite admitting he couldn't type or use computers, highlighting the core purpose of information warfare as subduing the enemy without direct conflict, drawing wisdom from ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.

Pentagon is Combining Corporate Records and Social Media Surveillance to Guide Hacking and Influence Operations

All-Source Intelligence Fusion • 101 implied HN points • 27 Apr 23
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. Pentagon is combining corporate records and social media surveillance for hacking and influence operations.
  2. Corporate surveillance firms were discussing providing bulk surveillance data for purposes like protecting the NATO brand.
  3. U.S. military and intelligence agencies are developing offensive information warfare industry using social media surveillance, corporate records analysis, and cellphone location-tracking.

Totalitarianism of Now: Psyops of the UniLARPy

Rounding the Earth Newsletter • 7 implied HN points • 02 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. Totalitarianism controls how people see the world. By controlling information, it shapes culture and politics.
  2. The UniLARPy refers to a controlled narrative where various groups act under the same agenda, despite appearing to compete.
  3. Psyops, or psychological operations, manipulate perceptions and create confusion, often leading to people supporting harmful leadership unknowingly.

Twitter exec says 'hundreds of thousands' of Russian disinformation accounts still active on Twitter

Weaponized • 32 implied HN points • 13 Feb 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. Former Twitter executive confirms 'hundreds of thousands' of Russian disinformation accounts remain active on Twitter.
  2. Russian disinformation accounts on Twitter target Americans in an ongoing campaign.
  3. Social media platforms face challenges in countering foreign influence and disinformation.

Who Broke America?

Daniel Pinchbeck’s Newsletter • 15 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Information Warfare
  1. The disintegration of America is believed to be caused by internal factors like financialization of the economy and wealth concentration, as well as external influences like Russian disinformation.
  2. Misinformation and conspiracies have been fueled by the fast, reactive, and emotionally-driven nature of social media, creating a sense of urgency and blurring the line between what is emotionally urgent and what is genuinely important.
  3. As society grapples with a reality where traditional definitions and concepts are losing meaning, there is a need to find ways to address the confusion, mistrust, and division to move towards a more coherent and unified collective movement.

Synthetic Controversy

Who is Robert Malone • 12 implied HN points • 14 Mar 24
🌍 World Politics Information Warfare
  1. In warfare, the tactic of divide and conquer involves splitting enemy forces, isolating them, and attacking each group separately to weaken overall strength.
  2. In modern PsyWar and hybrid warfare, synthetic controversies are created to sow discord, weaken opposition, and consolidate power by exploiting emotions and opinions rather than facts.
  3. Creating and promoting controversies related to someone's behavior, beliefs, or feeling of belonging can be strategically used to advance objectives by generating buzz and dividing communities in a PsyWar context.