Weaponized Data and Algorithmic Politics: The Transformation of Power through the Lens of Hybrid Warfare

This study examines the ontological transformation of power and security paradigms within the 21st.century International Relations discipline, centering on the axis of Computational Social Science (CSS), artificial intelligence, and big data analytics. Moving beyond the “techno-optimist” atmosphere ascribed to the internet in the 1990s, the research focuses on the era of “Algorithmic Politics,” wherein technology has evolved into an instrument of hegemony and domination. Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of Shoshana Zuboff’s “Surveillance Capitalism” and Farrell and Newman’s “Weaponized Interdependence,” the article argues that data is not merely a commercial commodity, but strategic ammunition used to manufacture political consent, steer decision-making processes, and dismantle societal resistance. In this context, the study emphasizes that the conventional propaganda methods of the Lasswellian era (the “magic bullet”) have been superseded by psychometric micro- targeting strategies constructed via data derived from individuals' digital footprints. Within the scope of hybrid warfare doctrine, the article classifies and analyzes algorithmic methods as offensive and defensive systems with technical granularity. Under offensive methods, the study scrutinizes the roles of public sentiment analysis, social network mapping, autonomous social botnets, and deepfake Technologies which blur the boundaries of reality in mass manipulation. Conversely, under defensive methods, the operational mechanics and strategic limitations of disinformation detection, bot-hunting algorithms, and synthetic media verification systems are discussed. Consequently, the study posits that in this new domain characterized by the militarization of cyberspace, national security must encompass not only physical borders but also the “cognitive integrity” of society. Against the data monopoly and epistemological hegemony of technology giants, the establishment of “digital sovereignty” and the development of “hybrid security” doctrines by states are defined as the existential imperatives of the modern era.