在当今的在线注意力经济中，供求关系为企业和企业家创造了一个快速增长的市场，他们使用数字影响力战的战术、工具和策略来获取利润和权力。这本书关注的是更为恶意的在线活动，比如欺骗、挑衅，以及这些“数字影响力雇佣兵”实施的一系列其他肮脏伎俩他们可以位于任何有互联网连接的地方——巴西、中国、伊朗、马其顿、俄罗斯、津巴布韦——他们的影响力活动的目标可以是任何人，也可以是任何支付攻击费用的地方。
他们可以为愿意支付费用并提供目标指示（通常是为了支持外交政策目标）的州政府这样做，并可能有具体的指标来评估雇佣军的表现。非国家行为者（包括公司和政党）可以 为这些数字影响力服务付费。除了为提供的服务付费外，数字影响力雇佣兵还可以通过操纵社交媒体平台使用的目标广告算法获利。
詹姆斯·J·F。 Forest详细描述了这些雇佣兵用来利用目标的不确定性、恐惧和偏见的各种工具和战术，包括机器人、深度假图像、假新闻、挑衅、欺骗和跟踪。他还展示了他们如何利用阴谋论和虚假信息来操纵人们的信仰和看法。
森林 也突出了 怎样 政府机构和社交媒体平台正试图通过关闭违规网站、Facebook页面和YouTube频道等策略来抵御这些外国影响力运动；用警告标签标注虚假信息；识别和阻止协调的不真实行为；暂停社交媒体账户，通常是永久性的。
欧洲的 以及北美各国政府 对这些雇佣军展开了多次调查，在某些情况下还提出了刑事指控。Forest最后提出了一些建议，让我们每个人都能学会识别虚假信息和其他恶意行为，并在未来为自己辩护。
Digital Influence Mercenaries: Profits and Power Through Information Warfare
In today’s online attention economy, supply and demand have created a rapidly growing market for firms and entrepreneurs using the tactics, tools, and strategies of digital influence warfare to gain profit and power. This book focuses on the more malicious types of online activity such as deception, provocation, and a host of other dirty tricks conducted by these “digital influence mercenaries.” They can be located anywhere with an Internet connection—Brazil, China, Iran, Macedonia, Russia, Zimbabe —and the targets of their influence efforts can be whomever and wherever they are paid to attack.
They can do this for state governments willing to pay and provide their targeting instructions (usually in support of foreign policy objectives) and may have specific metrics by which they will assess the mercenaries’ performance. Non-state actors (including corporations and political parties) can pay for these kinds of digital influence services as well. And in addition to being paid for services rendered, digital influence mercenaries can also profit simply by manipulating the targeted advertising algorithms used by social media platforms.
James J. F. Forest describes in detail the various tools and tactics these mercenaries use to exploit the uncertainties, fears, and biases of their targets including bots, deep-fake images, fake news, provocation, deception and trolling. He also shows how they weaponize conspiracy theories and disinformation to manipulate people’s beliefs and perceptions.
Forest also highlights how government agencies and social media platforms are trying to defend against these foreign influence campaigns through such tactics as shutting down offending websites, Facebook pages, and YouTube channels; tagging disinformation with warning labels; identifying and blocking coordinated inauthentic behavior; and suspending social media accounts, often permanently.
European and North American governments have launched numerous investigations against these mercenaries, and in some cases have brought criminal charges. Forest concludes with suggestions for how each of us can learn to identify disinformation and other malicious efforts and defend ourselves in the future.
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