Minister warns about wars of words in digital age

Propaganda wars have the potential to be more destructive than modern warfare, says Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.

In her speech at the Ministry of Defence in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Ms Al Kaabi said technological advances presented a significant challenge and changed the face of war as we know it.

She said “wars are always present in people’s minds” in an age where almost everyone was online and had access to social media.

“The kind of war created by means of communications at present is much more dangerous than the traditional form of war, especially in light of the presence of a large number of technology users who easily get influenced by such digital types of war,” Ms Al Kaabi said.

She said the digital platforms from which these wars could be waged, or exposed, were dynamic and varied.

“The first is widely used social media sites, which are easily accessible to large numbers of people who are almost impossible to trace as they usually don’t reveal their real identity,” she said.

Other digital platforms include applications used by communication arms of terror groups, such as ISIL.

The final form of platform the minister referred to was government web portals that effectively disseminate governments’ messages, including their political agendas.

“With world governments increasingly relying on information technology, cyber war will take a leading role in modern warfare.”