Fake News as a Threat to National Security

Abstract

We are living in the so-called era of fake news in which cybercriminals have been delving into this phenomenon and turning it into a lucrative business. Fake and invented media websites are created to resemble legitimate media. Some criminals use methods such as modifying legitimate documents and distribute them as part of, for instance, disinformation campaigns. Propaganda is unequivocally bound to national security and it is a risk to it. Since fake news is a unique area where challenges appear to be very complicated, it should be dealt with via more and better usage of national security communications. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the Collins Dictionary has announced “fake news” as a word of 2017. Furthermore, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel considers that fake news is suppressing the media and society as a whole, calling for an EU-level analysis in order to assess the amount to which fake news menaces the EU and pinpoint whether it is likely to find a common solution regarding this issue