Volume 12 - Issue 69
/ September 2023
249
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.69.09.22
How to Cite:
Bidzilya , Y., Snitsarchuk, L., Solomin, Y., Hetsko, H., & Rusynko-Bombyk, L. (2023). Ensuring media security in the era of
information globalization. Amazonia Investiga, 12(69), 249-259. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.69.09.22
Ensuring media security in the era of information globalization
Забезпечення медіа-безпеки в епоху інформаційної глобалізації
Received: August 1, 2023 Accepted: September 29, 2023
Written by:
Yuriy Bidzilya1
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5134-3239
Lidiya Snitsarchuk2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-9357
Yevhen Solomin3
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6770-5505
Hanna Hetsko4
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7684-4790
Liubov Rusynko-Bombyk5
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0634-9217
Abstract
The aim of the study is to identify key threats to
media security and ways of their minimization.
The methods of statistical analysis, case studies,
content analysis, and rating analysis were used in
the article. The study established that the biggest
threat to media security is the spread of
misinformation. This threat is complex because
of the ability to spread in multiple ways and
channels using a number of tools hybridized by
misinformation, including propaganda, fake
news, information leakage, manipulation,
falsification of media content, etc. The spread of
disinformation from Russia and China is of
particular concern. Case study proved that
disinformation is spread in many ways, and new
media only deepen this problem. The
consequences of the use of disinformation are
public unrest, riots, mistrust of the media, and a
threat to democratic values. The main areas of
ensuring media security are defined as:
application of technological measures,
improvement of the legislative framework at the
national and international levels, improvement of
media literacy of the population through
1
Doctor of Sciences in Social Communications, Professor, Professor of the Department of Journalism, Dean of the Faculty of
Philology, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
2
Doctor of Science in Social Communications, Professor, Deputy Director-General for Research, Director of Research Institute for
Press Studies,Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine.
3
Candidate of Sciences in Social Communications, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology,
Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
4
PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod,
Ukraine.
5
PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod,
Ukraine.
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appropriate educational programmes and
specialized campaigns. The results of the study
can be used by government officials and media
content providers to improve media security.
Keywords: media security, traditional media,
new media, misinformation, fake content, media
literacy.
Introduction
Ensuring media security in view of aggravating
conflicts of various origins is the priority for the
governments and media content providers. This
is explained by the decisive impact of
information resources on all processes in modern
society, as well as the rapid development of new
information technologies (Bahrini & Qaffas,
2019), which has a double impact. On the one
hand, innovation facilitates quick access to
information for users in real time, thereby
enabling timely response to events and planning
for the future (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2019). On
the other hand, many new ways of information
misuse related to information theft, its use by
criminals, data distortion, creation of fake
content, etc. are emerging (Liu et al., 2021;
Pennycook & Rand, 2021). Such actions may
have serious implications both at the individual
level and at the state level (Vraga & Tully, 2021;
Colomina et al., 2021). In the field of media,
dishonest use of information can be aimed at
influencing the election process, spreading
propaganda, provoking public unrest, and
intimidating the population (Tandoc, 2019;
Brody, 2019).
The main focus of the study is the problem of
misinformation, as it is complex because of a
large number of ways of distribution and serious
implications for society and the state. In addition
to the traditional ways of spreading
disinformation (in person, in television news),
new digital media create additional space for the
spread of unreliable data. Disinformation
hybridizes such threats as propaganda, fake
news, information leakage, manipulation
(Treverton et al., 2018). The large volumes of
digital information and the uncertainty of the
human factor make it almost impossible to
develop a single practical approach to combating
disinformation and ensuring media security in
real time (Zhang et al., 2022).
Concrete examples can help to understand the
harmful effect of misinformation. Thus,
Colomina et al. (2021), examining the impact of
disinformation on democratic processes and
human rights around the world, reveal the role
this phenomenon played during the spread of the
COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, between January
20 and February 10, 2 million messages were
distributed on Twitter, which made up about 7%
of the total number of messages on the social
network, and spread conspiracy theories about
the coronavirus. This contributed to growing
anxiety among the population, who did not know
where to look for truthful information, and even
more, it contributed to the public's disregard for
safety rules, which put many lives at risk.
Gunther et al. (2018) performed calculations
regarding the impact of misinformation on the
2016 US presidential election. As the scientists
note, a large number of messages demonizing the
candidates and containing distorted facts were
spread through all the main means of information
dissemination (television, radio, social
networks). The researchers note that if their
estimates are even remotely accurate, the effect
of spreading such messages was enough to
influence the results of the vote, which was very
close.
The researchers study various technological
means of combating the abuse of media content
(Lian, 2009; Bindu et al., 2018), as well as
legislative aspects in this area (Marsden et al.,
2020) and ways to improve public awareness
(Shen et al., 2019) At the same time, the
researchers most often study individual aspects
of the problem or, on the contrary, studies cover
information security as a whole. This study
Bidzilya , Y., Snitsarchuk, L., Solomin, Y., Hetsko, H., Rusynko-Bombyk, L. / Volume 12 - Issue 69: 249-259 / September,
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contains a comprehensive analysis of threats to
media security and determines directions for its
provision.
The aim of the article is to identify key threats
and directions for their minimization in the field
of media security. The aim of the article involved
the fulfilment of the following research
objectives:
- Analyse media security threats, in particular,
disinformation as the main threat and its
components (propaganda, fake news,
information leakage, manipulation, forgery
of media content);
- Conduct a case study of individual cases of
media security violations;
- Determine key areas of media security.
Accordingly, the research structure consists of
the following subdivisions:
1) Analysis of threats - the subsection provides
for the analysis of key threats to media
security, the main of which is
disinformation, which includes, among other
things, their main characteristics, goals,
ways of distribution.
2) Case studies of disinformation cases - at this
stage, the countries that are the main actors
in conducting global disinformation
campaigns are identified, as well as
individual examples of the use of
technologies to spread disinformation, for
example, deepfake, collection of user data,
phishing attacks.
3) Regulatory measures to combat
disinformation - the last section reveals the
essence, advantages, disadvantages and
directions for optimization of the latest EU
legislation related to the fight against
disinformation, and also contains statistical
data on the values of Media Freedom Score
and Media Literacy Index in 2022 and Most
used media to access news in Europe.
Literature Review
Media security is a relevant issue, especially
because of the new risks associated with digital
technologies. This entailed the emergence of the
concept of “new media”. Dhiman (2023) reveals
the essence of new media as a digital form of
communication and dissemination of
information through the Internet and social
networks. Temmermans et al. (2022) note that
deepfake techniques enable creating near-
realistic media content. Derner and Batistič
(2023) report that the new platform ChatGPT,
which has gained high popularity among
consumers, is capable of generating malicious
text and code, creating unethical content,
disclosing confidential information, facilitating
fraudulent schemes, and collecting information.
Most often, researchers are concerned about the
spread of fake news, misinformation,
propaganda, and the leakage of confidential
information. These malicious actions are often
associated with cyber-attacks aimed at violating
the integrity of the information system. ALsaed
and Jazzar (2021) identify the most common
types of cyberattacks: phishing, malware,
malicious domains, and fake news. The
researchers propose micro-level
countermeasures, while Nagasako (2020)
examines the impact of cyberattacks at the
interstate level, global cyberattacks committed
by individual countries. The devastating
consequences of such cyber-attacks can manifest
themselves through their influence on election
results and the threat to democracy, which is why
such operations are defined in the article as
“misinformation”. Caramancion et al. (2022)
also wrote on the approach to disinformation as
one of the main cyber threats, noting that the lack
of inclusion of disinformation in the glossary of
cyber threats is a shortcoming of modern
standards in the field of cyber security. Petratos
(2021) concludes that misleading information is
not a cyber threat in itself, but poses cyber threats
to business, healthcare, mass media, financial
markets, electoral process, and geopolitical
space.
Along with misinformation, fake news are often
considered in the academic literature. Rodríguez-
Ferrándiz (2023) defines this concept and
analyse the perception of fake news by the
public. Sousa-Silva (2022) recognize the dangers
of fake news related to two factors: the threat to
democracy and the difficulty of detecting such
news.
So, the realized media security threats can have a
global effect. Researchers often touch on the
topic of the impact of media threats on the
election process and their role in the development
of information warfare. Pyrhönen and Bauvois
(2020) note an increase in threats to media
security during elections, when the community
expects the expose of certain misdeeds of
political elites, which creates a fertile ground for
various smear campaigns. Tan (2020) offers his
own election management digital readiness
index. Kumar (2022) discusses the concept of
information war, examining the adequacy of
international law to counter it.
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Methodology
Research design
In accordance with the tasks set in the study, the
content of the study is divided into subsections
that contain an analysis of threats to media
security, a statistical review and case studies of
cases of media security violations, and directions
for ensuring media security. In the first stage of
research using content analysis, key threats to
media security were identified. This made it
possible to establish a list of such threats, to
briefly describe their essence, to outline the
motivation of attackers to implement threats and
to determine the most complex threat
(disinformation), which combines a number of
other tools (propaganda, fake news, information
leakage, manipulation, forgery of media content,
etc.).
At the second stage, using statistical analysis, the
number of disinformation campaigns conducted
during 2016-2020 was determined by the main
actors who carried out such campaigns. It has
been established which countries most often
carried out disinformation campaigns, as well as
in which territories they were implemented. With
the use of a case study, several examples of the
use of disinformation for the purpose of
transforming public opinion were revealed. The
types of disinformation that were considered in
the case study are deepfake technologies and the
use of personal data for the purpose of
conducting phishing attacks.
The third stage, during which the method of
content analysis was used, reveals the key
regulatory measures to combat disinformation.
At this stage, the main attention is paid to the
analysis of the legal framework of the European
Union, in particular, to such documents as the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the
Proposed Law of the European Union on
Artificial Intelligence (EU Law on Artificial
Intelligence), the Law on Digital Services
(Digital Services Act, DSA). The analysis made
it possible to identify the main tasks of the
documents, their advantages and disadvantages,
as well as to suggest directions for improvement.
In addition, at this stage, the need to increase
media literacy and public awareness of
disinformation, especially in countries where
socio-political processes have been significantly
affected by disinformation and information
warfare, is noted. In this context, the results of
using the ranking method to determine the Media
Freedom Score and the Media Literacy Index are
presented. Media Literacy Index 2022 includes
the following groups of indicators (which, in
turn, contain several subindexes): Media
Freedom indicators (40%), Education indicators
(45%), Trust (10%), New forms of participation
(5%). The weight of each group of indicators in
determining the integral value of the media
literacy index is indicated in parentheses. Also,
with the use of statistical analysis, the shares of
the European population using one or another
channel for receiving news, namely television
news, online news platforms, radio, social media
and print publications, are given.
Sampling
The sample consists of European countries
because the European Union was the most active
in the field of legislative support of media
security. During the analysis of the indicators
Media Freedom Score and Media Literacy Index
and Most used media to access news in Europe in
2022, data from 41 European countries were
used, the full list of which is presented in Figure
2. During the analysis of the legislative
framework, documents in force in the countries
were used in the EU.
Information background of the research
Academic periodicals of different countries, the
legislative framework of the European Union,
and data from the report The 2022 Media
Literacy Index Main Findings and Possible
Implications were used as the background
information for the research (Lessenski, 2022).
Results
Analysis of threats
Ensuring media security involves awareness of
the entire range of threats that can disrupt it.
However, the rapid development of technologies
in the modern world causes an increasing number
of new challenges. Therefore, recognizing the
need for permanent monitoring of the
information sphere regarding the emergence of
new threats, it is advisable to focus on those
threats that can cause the most significant
negative geopolitical, social, and economic
consequences. The main threats are presented in
Figure 1.
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Figure 1. The main threats to media security
(built by the author according to Caramancion et al. (2022))
Disinformation occupies an exclusive place
among the threats presented in Figure 1. In the
author’s opinion, the mentioned threats (with the
exception of disinformation and social
engineering) relate mostly to the need to
strengthen cyber security in the media sphere. In
other words, the countermeasure against these
threats should be aimed at improving the security
and stability of technological solutions in the
field of media against unauthorized interference.
Many countries have a regulatory framework for
countering such interference, but it is quite
possible to detect them. At this time,
disinformation is a complex phenomenon: it can
spread through various channels even without the
use of the latest technological means, although it
acquires more forms with their use.
Disinformation is difficult to detect, especially if
it is not an outright deception and presented as
the views of individuals or parties. Besides, the
international and national legislation of countries
have insufficiently defined or missing important
aspects regarding countering misinformation.
So, disinformation should be considered as a key
threat to media security. It combines a number of
such tools as:
− propaganda;
− fake news;
− information leakage;
− manipulations;
− fake media content.
The complexity of the phenomenon of
disinformation is expressed through the
possibility of its realization through the
information leakage by using cyber-attacks, the
role of disinformation in information war, as well
as significant influence on political processes
through the transformation of public views.
Disinformation can cause such serious
consequences as the loss of public trust in the
media, social unrest, and influence on democratic
processes.
Case studies of cases of disinformation
The destructive impact of disinformation can be
demonstrated by analysing cases in which
disinformation campaigns played a significant
role. Studies (Nagasako, 2020), analytical reports
(Lublin Triangle Perspective, 2022) and statistics
(OECD, 2022) testify that Russia is most often
the main actor in conducting global
disinformation companies, followed by China.
The impact of Russian disinformation campaigns
•It is distributed by creating special advertising content, during web search, through social network platforms.
The goal is the spread of radicalism, influence on election results, information and cyber war
Misinformation
•It consists in creating fake web pages of well-known companies that look exactly like their prototypes, e-
mailing fake letters, SMS and other messages. The goal is financial gain, access to trade secrets, socio-
political motives, damage to the reputation of competitors
Phishing
•It uses means of psychological manipulation of users' consciousness. The goal is financial gain, access to
trade secrets, socio-political motives, damage to the reputation of competitors
Social engineering
•They are committed by making unauthorized changes to their software code in order to create malfunctions
Web application attacks
•They are implemented by creating a traffic overload of devices, programs, and the network as a whole in
order to disrupt the work process
Distributed denial-of-service attack, DDoS
•It involves the integration of malicious code into running programmes and can be presented as viruses,
Trojans or Worms. The goal is to make a profit, spread the ideology
Malware
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has particularly grave implications in the context
of Russia’s large-scale invasion of the sovereign
territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The
use of deepfake technology to influence social
sentiments in Ukraine can be an illustrative case
of the use of disinformation tools. Although the
origin of the video has not been established, it is
believed to have been part of an information war
waged by Russia. In the video, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly tells
Ukrainian soldiers to give up the struggle and
surrender the war. The record had clear signs of
a fake, because the video was of low quality and
it was easy to recognize a fake (Kumar, 2022;
Papanis et al., 2014). The purpose of its
distribution was to sow panic, create public
unrest in the country, and it was also intended to
sow doubts about the credibility of future
addresses of the President.
In addition to deepfake technology, hackers also
widely use the collection of user data (for
example, collected by advertisers) that they
obtain through data leaks. Information can be
used to increase tension in society, because the
data obtained is directed to the development of
tools that deepen human prejudices. Moreover,
hackers use personal information to commit
phishing attacks, as happened before the 2016
US presidential election, when Russian
cybercriminals hacked into the email of a US
government official to obtain and release
information (Kumar, 2022). The use of bots to
spread disinformation in social networks is
gaining popularity.
Key areas of ensuring media security
The main measures to ensure and strengthen
media security can be divided into the following
areas:
− technical measures;
− improvement of the national and
international legal framework;
− improvement of user media literacy and
awareness.
Technological measures include various methods
of media content encryption during its reception,
storage and transfer, watermarking and
fingerprinting methods, digital signatures,
certificates, secure communication protocols,
etc. The effectiveness of using these tools
depends on the involvement of qualified cyber
security specialists, as well as the readiness to
make appropriate investment.
The strengthening of threats of various origins,
including hybrid ones, necessitated the
development of legislation on countering
misinformation. The EU activity, which conducts
an effective policy to combat misinformation,
deserves special attention. In this regard, it is
appropriate to analyse the latest EU legislative
acts in this area (Table 1).
Table 1.
Recent EU legislative acts on combating misinformation
Legislative act
Purpose
Advantages
Disadvantages
Areas for
improvement
General Data
Protection
Regulation
GDPR)(
Protection of
privacy and
regulation of
campaigns for
personal data
processing and
protection
Obliges companies to
integrate privacy into the
operation and creation of
new systems. Possible
positive impact on
reducing the sale of
personal data to brokers.
Large fines for breaking
the rules encourage
compliance. Regulations
governing the use of
deepfake technology
Difficulties in
implementing the
requirements of the
regulation,
unregulated issues
related to information
attacks
To increase
efficiency,
companies should
implement effective
internal policies,
implement reliable
technological
security measures,
train personnel and
cooperate with
experts
The EU Artificial
Intelligence Act
(EU AI Law)
Regulation of the
use of artificial
intelligence
technologies for
consumer
protection
Distribution of risks by
levels and application of
different measures for
each level
Insufficient
requirements for
transparency, lack of
their combination
with a clear sanction
for non-compliance
Strengthening
requirements for
transparency,
introduction of
sanctions for abuse
of artificial
intelligence
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Services Digital
DSA Act,
Combating
misinformation
Demand that technology
companies shall be held
liable for content created
by users and enhanced
through the application of
algorithms on their
platforms. Demand to
remove inappropriate
content. for Transparency
requirements
Determining the
balance between
responsibility for
content and freedom
of expression.
Balancing
transparency and
privacy requirements.
Difficulties during
realization and
implementation.
Creation of
conditions for
productive
cooperation between
regulators and
companies,
improvement of
crisis protocols
Source: created by the author based on Kumar (2022)
The EU has taken a number of decisive actions in
the field of combating misinformation, but the
current legislation needs constant revision and
improvement because of the rapid development
of technologies and the increased number and
scale of threats. Besides, international norms
should be supplemented by the development of
legislation in the field of media security at the
national level, because the media sphere of
different countries has its own peculiarities that
must be taken into account. The need to conduct
recurrent campaigns for Internet users and
employees of companies in the field aimed at
increasing their awareness and media literacy is
worth noting in this context. Figure 2 shows the
values of two important indices in this area for
European countries, namely Media Freedom
Score and Media Literacy Index.
Figure 2. Media Freedom Score and Media Literacy Index 2022
(built by the author based on Lessenski (2022))
76
74
73
72
71
71
68
66
62
62
62
61
61
61
59
58
58
57
56
56
54
54
50
49
47
44
42
41
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31
25
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20
3032
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23 2628
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25
17 20 23 26
18 23
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12 19
911 17
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010 13
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10
11
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Finland
Norway
Denmark
Estonia
Ireland
Sweden
Switzerland
Netherlands
Germany
Iceland
UK
Austria
Belgium
Portugal
Spain
France
Lithuania
Czech Republic
Poland
Slovenia
Latvia
Luxemburg
Italy
Slovakia
Croatia
Malta
Hungary
Cyprus
Ukraine
Greece
Romania
Serbia
Bulgaria
Moldova
Montenegro
Turkey
Albania
BiH
Kosovo
North Macedonia
Georgia
Media Freedom Score Media Literacy Index 2022
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The greater the value of the indicators shown in
Figure 2, the higher the country’s position in
terms of media literacy and media freedom. The
list is headed by the Scandinavian countries -
Finland, Norway and Denmark. At this time,
countries such as Ukraine, which is a vivid
example of a state that has been significantly
affected by information war, is very low on the
list for both indices. Therefore, it is critically
important for the state to promote the
development of responsible journalism and
improve media literacy of the population,
encourage it to critically evaluate the proposed
content from various sources, especially in view
of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine.
Sources through which Europeans get news and
their percentage of popularity are shown in
Figure 3.
Figure 3. Most used media to access news in Europe
(built by the author based on Lessenski (2022))
The majority of users prefer television, although
a significant share of the population increasingly
uses new media, which necessitates close
attention to aspects of their regulation. Television
is heavily censored, and new media can be
virtually unmanageable. This once again
emphasizes the development of relevant
legislation, means of technological
countermeasures against disinformation and
other threats, as well as promoting the
improvement of media literacy. Improving media
literacy will be most effective if special
educational programmes are introduced in
schools and universities. This will contribute to
the regular assimilation of the necessary skills,
which should be updated and reinforced through
regular media awareness campaigns.
Discussion
The results obtained during the study of the
legislative aspects of ensuring media security are
consistent with those of Nagasako (2020), who
focuses on the need for the development of
international norms and rules of countering
misinformation. A problematic aspect in the
development of legislation in this area is
combating disinformation while preserving
freedom of speech. An emphasis on the need to
develop national legal standards along with
international ones is common in the studies.
The findings on improving media security
through improved media literacy and the
development of responsible journalism are
consistent with those of Dhiman (2023). The
researcher notes the need to develop critical
thinking, conduct fact-checking, educational
campaigns, develop responsible journalism,
ensure ethical standards in the media, etc. The
author of this article reveals these and other
activities are elements of media literacy.
Temmermans et al. (2022) described an approach
to overcome the challenges of deep fakes and
non-fungible tokens. The essence of the method
is to develop a modular scalable structure
containing various protected media applications.
Derner and Batistič (2023) provide strategies for
mitigating the negative effects of using
ChatGPT, including tagging data, advanced
content filtering, scanning raw data, or using
artificial intelligence to filter it. ALsaed and
Jazzar (2021) propose solutions to mitigate
cyber-attacks: developing general guidelines for
teleworkers; rapid risk management
75%
43% 39%
26% 21%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
TV online news platforms radio social media platforms print press
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mechanisms; fight against infodemic campaigns;
international cooperation; use of software tools;
application of safe and updated systems. Unlike
these studies, the author’s work does not dive
deep into the technological aspects of media
security, it focuses on legislative issues,
problems of insufficient user awareness and
media freedom.
Caramancion et al. (2022) conclude that cyber
threats, where disinformation is identified as one
of those threats, play on human weaknesses. In
order to counter these threats, the cybersecurity
content of manuals must be regularly updated,
and disinformation must be viewed through the
prism of the harm it causes to individuals,
organizations, and governments. In general,
agreeing with the reseachers’ conclusions, the
author of this article is inclined to separate
disinformation from cyber threats. First,
disinformation is not only spread in cyberspace,
and second, it rather uses cyber means for its
spread, but is not one of them.
Petratos (2021) provides recommendations for
countering the cyber risks of misleading
information: creating digital transformation
strategies; recognition, identification and
assessment of cyber risks; establishment and
adoption of standards and norms; use of various
tools to combat misinformation; partnership
development; a sufficient amount of investment
in measures to combat misinformation.
Researchers consider disinformation as a factor
that can create cyber risks for various actors in
cyberspace. In the author’s opinion,
disinformation does not create cyber risks, but
uses their potential to spread its harmful
influence. Therefore, disinformation is the
primary source of problems, and
countermeasures should include not only
countering cyber threats and strengthening
technological characteristics, but also legislative,
social, educational, and psychological aspects.
Rodríguez-Ferrándiz (2023) identified a trend in
the spread of rumours as “virality” and
“memeticity” that prevail over the credibility of
the source and even the credibility of the reported
event. The motivation that drives users to spread
the news depends not so much on its accuracy,
but on the tastes, moods of the community, as
well as party support. These findings support the
findings of this study regarding the need to
improve media literacy.
Sousa-Silva (2022) note the availability of
technological means to detect fake news, but find
a lack of a proper mechanism in this area. The
researchers believe that forensic linguistic
analysis is an effective way to detect fake news.
In the author’s opinion, given the high speed of
information dissemination, media literacy skills
can be more useful, and forensic linguistic
analysis should be used in some difficult cases.
A number of studies focus on the problems of
spreading disinformation during elections.
Pyrhönen and Bauvois (2020) analyse the nature
of the spread of disinformation during elections,
while Tan (2020) offers his own electoral
management digital readiness index. The index
provides an assessment of the legal framework,
strengths and weaknesses of election
management bodies, and includes criteria such as
the type of election management model, the rules
regulating online campaigns and disinformation,
the degree of confidence in the rule of law, and
technological aspects of digital economy
readiness. In the author’s opinion, the index
proposed by the researcher can provide an
approximate estimate of the readiness of the
election process management, but it has
limitations, because this process is influenced by
too many factors. The author also believes that
the assessment of the readiness of the election
management should include the readiness not
only of the governing bodies, but also of the
citizens, which involves, among other things, in
their ability to recognize disinformation.
Studying the problems of spreading
disinformation during the information war,
Kumar (2022) notes the Ukrainian case of the
large-scale invasion of Russia on the territory of
Ukraine. The researcher identifies the
inadequacy of the current regime of international
law in the field of combating disinformation as
the main problematic aspect, and therefore the
main way of combating it is to improve the legal
system at the international level. This point is
worth agreeing, because the development of
legislative aspects regarding the introduction of
certain rules and responsibility for their non-
fulfilment is the most effective way of ensuring
media security, and should be accompanied by
the improvement of the technological resources
and awareness.
Conclusions
The conducted analysis emphasizes the need to
create a comprehensive approach to ensuring
media security in the era of information
globalization. the main threats to media security
were determined as a result of the study, the most
significant of which is disinformation.
Disinformation is a complex phenomenon and
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can spread through numerous channels even
without the use of the latest technological means.
The latter contribute to acquiring an increasing
number of forms of realization. Disinformation
combines propaganda, fake news, information
leakage, manipulation, fake media content. The
complexity of the phenomenon of disinformation
is manifested by the possibility of implementing
it through the information leakage using cyber-
attacks, the role of disinformation in information
war, and a serious impact on socio-political
processes.
Russia and China cause greatest concern
regarding the volume of disinformation and
propaganda being spread, especially in the
context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Case
studies of cases of disinformation gave grounds
to note the variety of ways of its implementation,
including through the latest deepfake
technologies and phishing attacks.
The conducted analysis determined the main
areas of ensuring media security, which include:
technical measures, improvement of the national
and international legal framework, improve
media literacy and user awareness. The measures
proposed in each of the areas will increase the
level of media security in the countries, in
particular by making the fight against
disinformation more effective. The prospects for
further research may be developing a
comprehensive programme for improving the
media literacy of the population in terms of
different age groups and subjects of the
implementation of the programme.
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