Echo Chambers, Filter Bubbles, and Cyber Warfare: An Ethical and Anticipatory Ethical Analysis

Abstract

With the development of the internet in the information era and the wide access to information the internet makes available, Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles have developed. Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles are a consequence of Reinforcement Learning Algorithms. An Echo Chamber is an environment where people only encounter beliefs or opinions that reinforce the beliefs and opinions to which they are already committed. (Sunstein, 2017). This serves the purpose of creating a constant positive feedback loop, which continually reinforces one idea or set of ideas (Murphy, 2022). A Filter Bubble develops when recommendation algorithms feed users content based on what narratives the recommendation algorithm determines an audience wants to hear to maximize user engagement (Pariser, 2011). Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles are relevant to Cyber and Cognitive Warfare because state actors can take advantage of the existence of these environments and use them to influence discourse and public opinion. In the context of cyber warfare attackers can use bots and fake accounts where they pretend to be citizens of the target nation to flood these Echo Chambers with narratives that align with the audience’s current belief system and while also benefiting the attackers (Singer & Brooking, 2018). In the context of cyber warfare attackers can abuse Filter Bubbles by using data breaches and advertising data to infiltrate the Filter Bubbles and direct them towards the attackers desired narrative (Matz et al., 2017). These abuses rise above the level of mere internet trolling, they are intentional and targeted acts of Cyber Warfare aimed at influencing the cognitive space of a nation’s population (Claverie & du Cluzel, 2022). Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles are constructed to accomplish a strategic objective, in this case they are aimed at influencing the decision making and opinions of an audience to influence elections, policy, protests, or overall public sentiment. These strategic objectives are accomplished by using non-kinetic weapons to destabilize society, diminish decision making capabilities, and erode trust in democratic institutions. This type of cyber-attack was made apparent in the COVID-19 disinformation schemes when wellness communities on social media platforms were flooded with anti-vaccine and medicine narratives leading to distrust in the medical system, and the politicians who promoted them (Dawson & Innes, 2019). This paper identifies the technical, ethical, and anticipated ethical issues of Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers and proposes a technical and policy framework to classify and prevent these acts of Cyber Warfare.