Fakes as a Threat to National Security in the Conditions of a Hybrid War

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate fakes as a tool in hybrid warfare and as a threat to national security. In order to achieve the goal, the nature of fakes, their types, reasons for their origin and spread, features of their nature – the ability to self-reproduce and spread rapidly – were analyzed. This intelligence became possible thanks to the completed study of scientific works devoted to this topic and the analysis of the current situation in the information field of Ukraine. Methodology. In the process of preparing the article, a socio-cultural methodological approach and a number of scientific methods were applied, the most important of which are: dialectical, generalization, comparative, hermeneutic. Such a set of methodological tools ensured the integrity of the study of clarifying the role and place of fakes in modern everyday life and in the conditions of waging a hybrid war. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the article highlights the origins of fakes and explains the reasons for their spread in our time. The specificity of fakes as an element of the modern information society and as a tool for waging hybrid warfare is indicated, and it is proved that fakes are one of the threats to national security at the current stage of development. Conclusions. It is shown that fakes are a threat to national security today. A number of steps are proposed to overcome the harmful influence of fakes on Ukrainian society both at the individual level and at the state level.

Keywords: national security; threats to national security; information society; misinformation; fakes; after the truth.