{"id":788,"date":"2025-04-20T16:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T16:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/?p=788"},"modified":"2025-04-20T16:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T16:15:08","slug":"phil-355e-information-warfare-case-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/2025\/04\/20\/phil-355e-information-warfare-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"PHIL 355E – Information Warfare Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

First, read this article:\u00a0\u00a0The Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, explained with a simple diagramLinks to an external site.<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0watch Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: ‘We spent $1m harvesting millions of Facebook profiles’<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(If the embedded video doesn’t work, use\u00a0this link\u00a0<\/a>instead.)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your question to answer is: Was Cambridge Analytica\u2019s use of Facebook data to influence the vote an act of information warfare? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I would argue that Cambridge Analytica\u2019s use of Facebook data was an act of information warfare by having its objective specifically influence how people voted in the 2016 election. Through Facebook\u2019s application\u2019s special permission, the company managed to gather data from 87 million accounts which included information such as status updates, likes, and private messages of users and their friends without consent or knowledge. That data formed the algorithm that was used to create different forms of propaganda. Forged content like videos, photos, websites, and blogs were meant to further manipulate people\u2019s opinions during the election by making rabbit holes. By exploiting Facebook\u2019s special permission for applications, using psychological targeting tactics, and varying forms of propaganda to pressure, an effective campaign for altering voter\u2019s beliefs, behavior, and electoral decisions was created. Actions like these have the power to cause chaos within a country, and in the context of an election, undermine the democratic process. This is because no one can trust each other when it comes to the information they see. That mistrust can to an unhealthy form of skepticism and polarization within communities, eliminating the possibility of people being able to understand and connect when disinformation creates that wedge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, read this article:\u00a0\u00a0The Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, explained with a simple diagramLinks to an external site.\u00a0and\u00a0watch Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: ‘We spent $1m harvesting millions of Facebook profiles’. (If the embedded video doesn’t work, use\u00a0this link\u00a0instead.)\u00a0 Your question to answer is: Was Cambridge Analytica\u2019s use of Facebook data to influence the vote an act … Continue reading PHIL 355E – Information Warfare Case Study<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24915,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/epres010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}