Information has long been an important tool of warfare — Homer’s epic poems about the siege of Troy from 1200 BC have influenced military strategies and enthralled audiences for hundreds of years — but modern instruments of communication have transformed how the public consumes news about conflict. The arrival of social media and the internet led to the expansion of the battlefield itself, creating new avenues for governments to advance their national interests. 

In the months leading up to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban launched an aggressive social media campaign to promote their agenda and leaned on platforms like Twitter to project an image of calm as American troops exited the country — a sharp turn from the group’s approach to technology in the 1990s when they banned the internet. 

Philip Seib is professor emeritus of journalism and public diplomacy at the University of Southern California. A co-founder of the academic journal Media, War and Conflict, he has been writing for decades about media and war. In his latest book, “Information at War: Journalism, Disinformation, and Modern Warfare,” Seib charts the role of information in conflicts, including the Second World War, Vietnam, and the war in Syria amid a rapidly shifting media ecosystem. I talked to him about how digital tools have influenced the landscape of war and how the public could take the issue more seriously.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.