Social Media Is the New Battleground for Economic Warfare

Real Clear Politics ^ | May 19, 2026 | Mark Penn

[E. Pluribus Unum]

There’s a global war on information today, and it’s segmented by country, generation, and medium.

We used to live in a world where there was a small funnel which all information was strained through. In that funnel was TV, where TV networks essentially had a couple of major news media channels that most of the population tuned into.

Nowadays that funnel has been wiped and filled with countless digital platforms, podcasts, and broadcasting. They’re oftentimes populated by international actors, bots, and millions of individuals who want to share their opinions with the world. Social media has democratized influence and blown the funnel open. Anyone can be an influencer.

This shift creates a new global competition for information – one that hostile actors can participate in. Take the Iranian-produced “LEGO-like” animated rap videos on TikTok and YouTube positioned as entertainment. The videos are far from traditional state propaganda – they’re culturally fluent, funny, and designed to blend into the Gen Z ecosystem. They increase exposure to alternative geopolitical narratives and introduce ambiguity. And they’re everywhere in everyday content feeds.

Engineered, platform-native narratives wrap adversarial messages in culture, giving them near-infinite reach and attention. If gone viral, content these days can trigger consumer boycotts, reputation crises, and investor hesitation or volatility. It’s a completely new medium for economic warfare, and it’s governed by social media algorithms.

Indeed, our citizens are increasingly susceptible to these narratives. A 2024 survey from The Harris Poll found 52% of Americans get their information from national media outlets, while 51% get it through social media. That number increases to 78% among Gen Z. Nearly three in five Gen Zers believe information from social media is trustworthy, 13 points higher than the rest of the population.

And with the average person spending more than 10 hours online...

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TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: internet; iran; iranianpropaganda; rapcartoons; socialmedia; tiktok; warfare

[E. Pluribus Unum]

This shift creates a new global competition for information – one that hostile actors can participate in.

Define "hostile actor," cupcake.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Define "hostile actor," cupcake.

I'm sensing some hostility there.

[ProgressingAmerica]

And our free open source audio books sit right in the middle of some of that maelstrom.

Podcasts and audio books are currently still growth medium and have been for years.

[Terry L Smith]

The “only social media” that I watch is YouTube.
I never saw the need for the rest of them.
Gen Z can sell itself silly.
“Electronic warfare at home” has existed since the days of TV ads against Barry Goldwater, the first televised debated between Kennedy and Nixon, the daily live feed from Vietnam, all those riots in the late ‘60’s, any one of them would fit the definition.

[equaviator]

"Social media has democratized influence and blown the funnel open. Anyone can be an influencer."

[Keyhopper]

Shame the whole system didn’t crash for Y2K

[Rennes Templar]

The good thing about social media is there are many diverse sources of information. The bad thing about social media is there are many diverse sources of information.

[GaryCrow]

The digital footprint of bad actors like Russia, China and Iran is huge. Websites like Reddit are full of influencers working for foreign governments who are there mainly to agitate and turn Americans against Americans. Their purpose is to disrupt more so than to push any particular agenda, they might come off as a conservative one day and a raving lefty the next, it depends on who they're talking to and what they're trying to accomplish that day.

Have you ever wondered why so many of today's youth think they're trans or gay? Thank these foreign actors who push this crap online. The goal is destabilization like we saw yesterday with the trannies that shot up the mosque. Every time they can goad some mush brained idiots into taking up one of these lifestyles and enrage them into violence they've chipped away a little more at the foundation of America.

I'm sure there are plenty of them plying their trade on Free Republic also.

[griswold3]

OMG. Was just thinking how CM could really start his “race war” with today’s social media.
I’ve learned over the years to do my own research on these incendiary topics.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

They don’t care about foreign “bad actors.”

They want to silence their domestic opponents and pretend that’s not what it’s about.

[roadcat]

The bad thing about social media is there are many diverse sources of information.

Absolute truth there, and hard to wade through diverse bad sources to get at useful information. The good thing about social media is that you have some control over what you see, versus the ads on TV that are forced on people. All the spam flying around gives me a headache.

[equaviator]

He was hellbent on it just like some activist groups are today.