  The massive diffusion of social media fosters disintermediation and changes
the way users are informed, the way they process reality, and the way they
engage in public debate. The cognitive layer of users and the related social
dynamics define the nature and the dimension of informational threats. Users
show the tendency to interact with information adhering to their preferred
narrative and to ignore dissenting information. Confirmation bias seems to
account for users decisions about consuming and spreading content; and, at the
same time, aggregation of favored information within those communities
reinforces group polarization. In this work, the authors address the problem of
(mis)information operations with a holistic and integrated approach. Cognitive
weakness induced by this new information environment are considered. Moreover,
(mis)information operations, with particular reference to the Italian context,
are considered; and the fact that the phenomenon is more complex than expected
is highlighted. The paper concludes by providing an integrated research roadmap
accounting for the possible future technological developments.
