On March 15, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security nonresident senior fellow Ronald A. Marks authored an article in Cyber Security Intelligence titled “The limits of social media soft power.” Marks explains how social media has transitioned from being a soft power tool to possessing applicable hard power traits like supplying arms to Ukraine. However, Marks also postulates that public information fatigue is inevitable as people grow tired of seeing negative messages.
Like sanctions, social media has its limits and needs to be used along with hard power to win the day.
Ronald Marks
Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.
