How Technology is Reshaping Global Threats

Disinformation and Digital War: How Technology is Reshaping Global Threats

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Disinformation is no longer a peripheral concern; it stands at the center of international security challenges. In 2025, global fears have shifted. A new Pew Research Center survey across 25 countries found that nearly 72% of adults see false information online as a major threat to their nation’s security, ranking it above climate change and infectious diseases. In fact, in countries such as Germany, Poland, Sweden, the UK, the US, and South Korea, people now see disinformation as the top global threat.

From manipulated elections to hacked infrastructure, technology has brought new threats right into our daily lives. What makes them especially dangerous is that they undermine trust, the foundation of democracy and security.

The pillars of governance and international order are struggling to adapt. International law continues to suffer from a conspicuous absence of coherent frameworks to govern the complexities of cyber conflict. The United Nations has attempted dialogues on cyber norms, but consensus is thin and enforcement is weaker.

Governments themselves often lack the resources or political will to defend against coordinated disinformation campaigns. Technology giants, despite wielding immense influence, continue to privilege profit over public responsibility. Meta’s decision to abandon fact-checkers on Facebook and shift toward engagement-driven content has drawn sharp criticism from researchers and civil society groups, who warn that this regression erodes the integrity of public discourse and places society’s informational well-being at risk. (The Guardian, 2025).

Civil society and the media, instead of acting as consistent watchdogs, have at times lapsed into complicity. Sensationalised headlines spread quicker than fact-checks, and partisan outlets deliberately amplify half-truths. Collectively, these failures deepen insecurity, mistrust, and political polarisation, undermining both democratic resilience and global stability. This issue is not just about technology. It is about integrity. Just as corruption hollows out a nation from within, unchecked disinformation steadily frays the fabric of trust across the world.

Every digital user, from policymakers to ordinary citizens, is now part of this contested information sphere. Leaders must acknowledge that disinformation is not a secondary nuisance but a primary threat to international security. NATO has already warned that hybrid threats including cyberattacks and disinformation pose risks as grave as conventional military threats (NATO Allies agree on the common approach to counter information threats.)

We are not the first to encounter unconventional war. In the twentieth century, propaganda machines shaped public opinion during the World Wars and the Cold War; state broadcasters and pamphlets were powerful tools of influence. But today’s reality is far more dangerous. Where state-run broadcasters once predominated, modern platforms enable anyone, with malicious intent or foreign backing, to manipulate populations in real-time. Russia used every social media platform, from Facebook and Twitter to YouTube and Instagram, to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to Senate-commissioned research (BBC News, 2018).

In August 2025, a study revealed that the top 10 AI chatbots repeated false claims more than one-third of the time (35%), nearly double the rate from the previous year (Axios, 2025). What sets today apart is the sheer speed, scale, and invisibility of misleading narratives. A single rumour can traverse continents in seconds, long before the truth has the opportunity to assert itself. As the old saying goes, “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

The list of threats we face is sobering. Deepfakes are no longer confined to science fiction; they can fabricate presidents declaring wars never waged or chief executives making statements that rattle markets. Cyberattacks, likewise, extend beyond faceless servers, crippling hospitals, banks, and power grids, and unsettling essential civilian life. Remember the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack? It paralysed Britain’s National Health Service, which cancelled surgeries and turned away patients (BBC).

And then, there’s the disinformation that fuels hate speech, conspiracy theories, and extremist recruitment. In election after election, from the Philippines to Kenya, we’ve seen digital manipulation erode the legitimacy of democracy itself. This issue is not a “local” problem. Lies travel across borders in seconds. A conspiracy theory born in one corner of the world can spark violence halfway across the globe before fact-checkers even begin to respond.

If humanity once built pyramids to outlast time, today we need the equivalent for the digital age: international treaties for cyber warfare, global rules for disinformation control, and institutions strong enough to defend the truth itself. Anything less leaves us defenceless in a war already fought daily across our feeds by malicious actors and coordinated campaigns. Every thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. For combating disinformation and digital warfare, global cooperation is essential.

Just as nuclear non-proliferation treaties emerged in the twentieth century to regulate weapons of mass destruction, the world now requires agreements to regulate cyber weapons and disinformation campaigns. Internationally monitored, digital security protocols could help ensure fair elections, transparent information flows, and greater accountability for both states and corporations.

The European Union’s new Digital Services Act is a step in that direction. For the first time, it tells tech platforms: you can’t just host harmful content and walk away from the consequences. While it’s far from perfect, the law marks an important shift, treating disinformation not as a messy debate over free speech, but as a security threat that demands responsibility.

Integrity, transparency, and preparation are not optional; they are the frontline defences in this new war of information. Governments must stop dragging their feet and invest in digital literacy, giving citizens the tools to recognise manipulation when they see it. Tech companies, for their part, cannot keep hiding behind algorithms that reward outrage and virality, they must redesign systems to prioritise facts over clicks.

Civil society has a role too: networks of fact-checkers and watchdogs must strengthen their capacity rather than allow others to sideline them. And at the international level, we need shared platforms for early warning and rapid response, because disinformation doesn’t respect borders any more than cyberattacks do.

Above all, we must reject the fatalistic idea that “nothing can be done.” That cynicism is itself a weapon of disinformation. We cannot build our resilience on firewalls; it must rest on something deeper public trust. Without it, even the best technology will fail us.

These risks aren’t abstract, they touch real lives. In Ukraine, families scroll their phones for updates on missile strikes while false stories flood in to sap morale (Brookings). In Kenya, even an ordinary election chat between neighbours can turn hostile when disinformation exploits old divisions (Al Jazeera). These are not distant warnings, people live these realities, with ordinary people paying the price.

Failure is possible. Nations may continue to treat cyber threats as isolated incidents rather than systemic dangers. Platforms may resist regulation for fear of losing revenue. Citizens may grow desensitised to falsehoods, shrugging them off as “just the internet.”

But if we do fail, let it be because we tried to defend truth and democracy not because we stood by in apathy or denial. There’s dignity in making the effort, even if we stumble along the way. It’s only in giving up that we truly lose.

The future of global security depends on whether we’ve got each other’s backs, even when the dangers are invisible. Disinformation erodes public trust, while cyberattacks imperil stability. In tandem, they do not merely weaken democratic institutions but steadily corrode the dignity and coherence that hold societies together.

As a global community, we share a responsibility: to protect truth, safeguard democracy, and push back against the silent wars of disinformation. Talking about it is not enough. What we choose to do, or not do, today will decide whether tomorrow’s digital world feels safe and resilient, or fragile and filled with fear.

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