Information operations
Information operations are actions conducted to influence information or information systems. The objective is to:
- Limit a person's capacity to act,
- Change their understanding of a situation,
- Disrupt their ability to react.
A change in one of these three elements can be enough to weaken the adversary. A good example is a disinformation campaign, which is often used to sow division in society.
Risks and causes
Causes
/
What can you do?
Before
- Learn about disinformation and the various influence techniques commonly used.
During
Be critical of the information you read. You can recognise disinformation by asking yourself a few questions and paying attention to certain elements:
- Who is the author, creator or distributor?
- Is the information true?
- For what purpose was the message disseminated?
- Read beyond the title.
- Consult multiple sources.
- Check the date it was written and shared.
- Do your own fact-checking.
- Be critical of the form.
After
- Are you still unsure whether the information is correct and reliable? Then do not share the information or message any further.
- Are you certain that you are dealing with disinformation? In that case, you can report it to EDMO BELUX.
- Have you come across a fake account or social media bot?
- Do not respond to the messages/posts and definitely do not share them further.
- Report this account on the relevant social media platform. For example, on Facebook, Instagram, and X, you can do this by going to the profile and clicking on the three dots at the top. There you will see “Report account.”
Impact and probability
The figures relating to probability and impact describe information operations of extreme magnitude. The BNRA theoretically describes such a scenario as follows:
- A disinformation campaign sponsored by an external actor, via social networks, specifically targets Belgium and lasts over three months.
- The campaign reaches a large audience: over 100,000 likes, shares, tweets and/or retweets, with a real-world reach of over 10,000 people.
- The false information is disseminated via more than five channels (social media, alternative and traditional media) and is linked to an international incident.
How should you interpret these results?
Within the BNRA, experts assessed three scenarios for each risk: considerable, major or extreme. On each page, you will find the results of the scenario with the highest score based on the combination of likelihood and impact. This does not mean that this scenario will occur or is the most likely. Read more here about how to correctly interpret the results.
Probability
Strong
Human impact
Very weak
Societal impact
Moderate
Environmental impact
No impact
Financial impact
Moderate
What do the authorities do?
The necessary initiatives are taken at Belgian, European and international level to identify, analyse and counter disinformation, but also to make society resilient against all forms of disinformation, including information operations carried out by foreign (state) actors.