DISINFORMATION AS A PSYOP COMPONENT IN MEGADISCOURSE: MANIPULATIVE ASPECT (ON THE EXAMPLE OF FULL-SCALE INVASION PERIOD OF RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR)

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the research on disinformation as a component of psychological operations (PsyOps) in megadiscourse. The purpose of the research is the emphasis of features of disinformation as the PsyOps component used against Ukraine. The aim is achieved by execution of a list of tasks: the terms “disinformation”, “fake”, “fake тnews”, “unconscious disinformation” were differentiated and clarified; the main features of disinformation as of a powerful manipulation and a significant instrument of hybrid warfare were distinguished; the author’s classification of the types of disinformation of the russian-Ukrainian war by thematic focus is proposed. The object of the research is the phenomenon of disinformation as the component of PsyOps in megadiscourse during the period of full-scale war, the subject of the research is the realisation of the types of disinformation in Ukrainian information field. The following methods of the research were used: descriptive – for distinguishing the features of disinformation as a phenomenon, its types; the method of analysis and synthesis for identification of the types of disinformation, establishing its functional characteristics and combining them into a single complex; the method of induction for specification of general conclusions. Attention is focused on the fact that disinformation is a broader concept that иencompasses military deception of the country, population, army and allies of the enemy. The author’s classification of the types of disinformation by thematic focus is proposed, where military, social, cultural, coalitional types were distinguished, each of which has different influential effect on the target audience. It was emphasised that russian disinformation has got a broad system of its thematic focus, which in its turn emphasises its manipulative effects. The influential effects which are achieved by spreading disinformation in social media were also analysed, the leading of which are: adjusting the picture of the world of the enemy state’s population in one’s own interests, psychological destabilisation of the population and the army, justification of one’s own armed aggression, and shifting the most unfavourable messages from the global and regional agenda. We see the prospects of the research in further profound study of the PsyOps components in megadiscourse, as well as the ways of neutralisation of disinformation in the context of hybrid warfare, including the creation of formulaic model of detection of disinformation in megadiscourse.