Evaluating the Socio-Economic Impact of Digital Information Manipulation and Weaponization of Information

Abstract

The information landscape has become a battleground which has become sophisticated with extensive global impact. Fake news and misinformation is now jeopardizing public trust and constituting a threat to knowledge acquisition. Access to accurate information on social media is challenging. In most cases it is intentionally designed to deceive; hence, it is tagged as fake news. This deceptive information is capable of causing grave danger to the society. The authors affirmed that the use of the internet has improved the quality of education and access to knowledge remarkably; opened the floodgate to an abundance of information, knowledge, and educational resources; and increased prospects and opportunities for learning beyond the traditional classroom environment. Information pollution is a risk to knowledge. Consequently, practising good information hygiene can mitigate misinformation, thus sanitizing the procedure around information manners and helping in preventing deceptive and false information.