Cyberwars.

CONTEMPORARY propagandists seem to understand one ancient truism better than others: 'all warfare is based on deception'. Battles for winning the minds of people are increasingly fought in cyberspace, but the underlying motive behind propaganda has remained unchanged over the centuries. Today, undiscerning 'consumers' of news often believe whatever they stumble upon, particularly if it confirms an existing bias, without bothering to do a background check on the authenticity or credibility of the source. Luckily, there are a few organisations that act as watchdogs, helping us distinguish the real from the 'fake news' in the sea of information. On Monday, the Brussels-based not-for-profit EU DisinfoLab published a startling report on its unearthing of 265 'fake news' websites that were promoted by a handful of 'fake NGOs' and 'fake think tanks' all linked to a single, controversial Indian company. This network predominantly propagated an anti-Pakistan agenda to decision-makers in the EU and US. While the discovery of such propagandistic, and often blatantly plagiaristic, websites is not all that unexpected, what stands...

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