Glossary

Inaccurate or manipulated information that is spread deliberately to harm an individual, organisation or country. For example, by creating and sharing fabricated news stories.

Civil defence concerns the resilience of society as a whole in the event of threat of war, and war. Civil defence is the work conducted by agencies, municipalities and regions, companies and associations aimed at protecting and defending society in the event of war or threat of war. This can concern transport, protecting people or ensuring that health and social care function properly.

Civil defence objectives on the Government’s website External link.

FIMI is a mostly non-illegal pattern of behaviour that threatens or has the potential to negatively impact values, procedures and political processes. Such activity is manipulative in character, conducted in an intentional and coordinated manner. Actors of such activity can be state or non-state actors, including their proxies inside and outside of their own territory.

A foreign power refers primarily to an independent state that Sweden has recognised, although the term also includes other state formations – such as newly formed states not yet recognised, regional states, or governments in exile and resistance or insurgent groups – when they hold such an actual position of power and political significance that diplomatic ties are possible in relations with Sweden.

A hybrid threat generally refers to a combination of military and non-military means, often in a grey zone between peace and war. It can consist of influence campaigns or political, economic and diplomatic means of exerting pressure. Together, these measures can be used to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses to achieve specific objectives.

Hybrid warfare concerns military strategies that mix conventional warfare with non-conventional warfare, such as influence operations, cyber warfare and other methods of influence.

Hybrid warfare and hybrid threats are not a new phenomenon, but have been brought to the fore and given prominence on the Swedish as well as the international security agenda in recent years, not least following Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2014.

Media and information literacy (MIL) includes knowledge, capabilities and attitudes necessary to enable assimilating reliable information, forming opinions and making one’s voice heard. MIL is about understanding the role of the media in society, the ability to find, analyse and critically evaluate information and the ability to express oneself and create content in different media and contexts.

False information that was not necessarily created to cause harm. It may be a case of a misunderstanding, or someone reading an article online, taking it as facts and sharing it to inform their friends, without knowing that what they are sharing is actually false.

There are a lot of different methods that can be used to create and disseminate disinformation, misleading information and propaganda to influence you. Multiple methods are often used simultaneously to achieve greater impact. One common method involves creating stories, or narratives, which can be completely false or only partly true, but which are skewed and taken out of context in order to mislead, polarise and divide. The narrative is designed to influence our perceptions of the world we live in and how we choose to act in different situations.

Malign information influence is when antagonistic foreign powers or other external threat actors attempt to detrimentally influence, disrupt or steer public discourse in Sweden. Means of information influence include disinformation, misleading information and propaganda.

For something to be identified as malign information influence, the information has to be misleading, intentional and disruptive.

Polarisation combines different influence techniques to amplify extreme positions on the same issue. Trolls and bots are often used to add fuel to extreme views. That way, antagonistic foreign powers pit groups against each other. By dividing society, they can then reap benefits.

Messages disseminated in order to influence the attitudes and actions of individuals or organisations in favour of the originator. Propaganda can be weaponised and is often based on disinformation and misleading information when used in psychological warfare.

Psychological defence is the collective ability of society to resist foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) directed at Sweden or Swedish interests.

In war, psychological defence aims to prevent an adversary from breaking down our resistance and our will to defend through disinformation, propaganda and psychological warfare.

Psychological operations (psyops) aim to influence the behaviour and attitudes of specific target groups. Flyers, posters, radio, social media, loudspeaker messages and in-person meetings – communication can take many forms when psyops are deployed to tilt public opinion in a specific direction in a conflict.

Psychological operations are a powerful tool for influencing the information environment. Before a war breaks out, psyops can affect the enemy’s combat mindset, and once a war has broken out, they can amplify the effect of conventional combat forces. Successful psyops ensure that we are faced with an enemy that is unsure of both its purpose and its own capabilities, but that is well informed about our strength and capacity.

In an influence campaign, foreign powers exploit society’s vulnerabilities to achieve their objectives without having to resort to military means. In other words, defence against influence campaigns is needed to protect Swedish security objectives – the life and health of the population, the functioning of society and the ability to uphold fundamental values such as democracy, rule of law and human rights and freedoms.

The Psychological Defence Agency defines influence campaigns as coordinated operations by foreign powers that involve misleading or false information or other actions specifically adapted to serve the purpose.

The campaigns aim to influence decisions by political or other Swedish public decision-makers, public opinion among all or part of the Swedish population, decisions or opinions in another country, where Sweden’s sovereignty, security objectives or other Swedish interests may be adversely affected.

An influence campaign consists of multiple influence activities, one such activity being information influence.

Within information influence, a number of different techniques are used to sway people’s decisions. The techniques can be divided into six groups:

• Social and cognitive hacking (dark ads)
• Misleading and deceptive identities
• Technical manipulation
• Disinformation
• Malevolent rhetoric
• Symbolic actions

Staff secondment by the Psychological Defence Agency to another country means that we have employees or representatives who are temporarily posted there. These individuals act as an extension of the organisation and provide local knowledge, translation, cultural understanding and practical support. They can be responsible for coordinating projects, managing logistics or serving as contacts between different parties. Seconded staff are valuable in facilitating international collaboration.

Total defence is the activity needed to prepare Sweden for war and consists of military and civil defence. Sweden’s defence is a matter concerning the whole of society. Sweden’s total defence shall protect and defend the country, human life and health, society’s functions, democracy and human rights. If total defence works well and if the outside world knows that this is the case, the inclination of others to attack or exert pressure on Sweden will diminish.

Freedom of expression means that all inhabitants, regardless of their age, have the right to express themselves, access and disseminate information and opinions. You shall not be punished for your political statements. In Sweden, freedom of expression is protected by the Constitution, as it is in most other countries. This means that the law is more difficult for politicians to change than other laws.