The risks of misusing social networks in the context of hybrid threat

Bohuslava Mihalčová (), Antonín Korauš (), Stanislav Šišulák (), Peter Gallo () and Jozef Lukáč ()
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Bohuslava Mihalčová: University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia
Antonín Korauš: Academy of the Police Force in Bratislava, Slovakia
Stanislav Šišulák: Academy of the Police Force in Bratislava, Slovakia
Peter Gallo: University of Prešov, Slovakia
Jozef Lukáč: University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 2023, vol. 10, issue 4, 357-371

Abstract: The world today is ceaselessly under the influence of changing conditions and threats. The contemporary digital age enables the provision of information that serves not only as common information but also as disinformation and hoaxes. This risk is high, specifically on social networks, dramatically impacting society. The paper's main objective is to point out the danger of misusing social networks to spread disinformation as a hybrid threat to influence people's thinking and behaviour, thus endangering democratic processes in developed democratic countries. The study, which focused on the risks of misusing social networks, was conducted using the questionnaire method and was subsequently assessed using statistical tests. The results indicate no link between age and the ability to distinguish desinformation, and that age does not influence the effects of disinformation. However, we did find the opposite result in terms of education, where people with lower education share hoaxes and disinformation more. Alternative media, whose posts are shared by more than 20% of social network users, have a relatively strong presence in our environment. The possibilities of spreading disinformation are also evident in the social impacts on users, who, according to our study, fear lowering their economic well-being. The study focuses on the effects of social networks on individuals' thinking and behaviour. Because we consider this issue insufficiently studied thus far, attention must also be paid to it in the future.

Keywords: disinformation; hoaxes; social impacts; social networks; economic well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 O35 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ssi:jouesi:v:10:y:2023:i:4:p:357-371

DOI: 10.9770/jesi.2023.10.4(22)

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