Dr. Nicole Matejic

This article is based on a presentation I delivered as part of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) War in 2025 Conference, held in Canberra from 12 and 14 June 2019 – where I was part of a panel discussing Information Age Warfare. Over the course of Day 1 of

ISIS have published a series of propaganda posters in an attempt to turn one of our favourite sweet fruits into a game of edible Russian roulette.

The term ‘information operations' or ‘info ops’ is usually used in a military context to describe operational influence activities designed to degrade an enemy's capability and impact their decision making.

Matejic, a former strategic communications and ministerial services specialist for Defence, takes us through the changing world of Defence in the age of social media, the advent of ISIS, and social media in a conflict environment.

The term ‘fake news’ has become the ultimate sledge and narrative equaliser in the war being fought for your on and offline perceptions. With global trust in crisis, the social media echo chamber is in a perpetual state of spin as facts are traded for fiction and rationality has fallen out of vogue.

This new approach is why the Islamic State is also successful. In an interview, social media and terrorism expert Nicole Matejic said, “They [ISIS] have taken the content marketing framework right from the best in class business tactics taught and used it to sell violent jihad..."