The phenomenon of photo fakes and a problem of manipulating a context of a photograph in an information and semantic warfare

Abstract

Introduction. The essence of photography means not only documentary potential but also manipulative one. The spatiotemporal discreteness of photography determines its «atomic» nature and the element of mystery, which calls for the work of the imagination, attempts of deciphering, deducing, and searching for context. The very combination of visual and verbal languages, an image and a context, is a vulnerable part of this continuum, where it is possible to change meanings. A true photo can be dishonest in isolation from the context, and the accuracy of the photo does not guarantee the truthfulness of the situation displaying. The method of substituting the context of an image is the basis of the phenomenon of photo fakes common in modern media and the Internet. In this paper, such kind of manipulations is referred as «photo fake». Nowadays, photo fakes have become an effective weapon of information and semantic warfare. The research methodology is based on a systematic approach, general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis; the work is based on Heorhii Pocheptsov’s concept of information and semantic warfare, as well as Susan Sontag’s theoretical research on the philosophy of photography. Results. The study of the problem shows that the history of photo fakes dates back to the invention of photography. Since then, this technology has penetrated the media and is still used to promote false information and manipulative meanings through emotional impact on the audience. A common method of photo fakes means appealing to the image of children. During the Russian-Ukrainian war, information and semantic manipulations of photo content became widespread. The typical methods of such manipulations are: appeals to the images of «Donbas children» and «Ukrainian Fascist punishers»; false attribution of true photographs on a geographical and chronological basis; tendentious interpretation of photographs, supported by precise intervention in the image integrity; the use of frames from feature films about the Second World War as alleged documentary photos of current events in Ukraine. Attempts of Ukraine’s «mirror response» to these attacks are sporadic and appear to be a losing strategy. Conclusions. The reasons for the mass spreading and stability of the photo fakes phenomenon in the media space are: growing technical accessibility of their creation and replication in the digital era; the effects of social media bubbles; the trends of semantic warfare, in which imaginative senses are more important and real than facts. Therefore, refutation of specific episodes of misinformation is ineffective against the already established senses and narratives laid down at the deep level. This paper can be the basis for further research of visual media content manipulation within semantic warfare, as well as development of fact-checking and anti-propaganda topics in the contemporary Ukrainian media space.