Hybrid CoE Strategic Analysis 34: Identity as a tool for disinformation: Exploiting social divisions in modern societies

Negative representations of gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, and other identity markers are used in disinformation campaigns to target audiences with existing prejudices or hostility towards those identities. This Hybrid CoE Strategic Analysis examines strategies and tactics used to exploit existing societal weaknesses or wedge issues rooted within social identities. Understanding how power relations between social identities can be manipulated to provoke conflict is key in building resilience and countering hybrid threats.