Theoretical and Legal Aspects of the Doctrine of Defects of Will Under the Influence of Modern Propaganda

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive theoretical and legal analysis of the transformation of the classical doctrine of defects of will under the influence of modern mass communication technologies and propaganda. It is substantiated that traditional criteria for assessing defects in the expression of will, formed within the framework of local and personalized torts (fraud, duress, or mistake), prove to be ineffective against the challenges of the digital age. The authors argue that modern propaganda acts not as a one-time external stimulus, but as a total informational environment capable of systematically reconstructing the cognitive matrix of the legal subject. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of covert cognitive coercion, which destroys the presumption of personal autonomy while creating a stable illusion of free legal decision-making. While the steps taken are subjectively perceived as voluntary, they are actually the result of external algorithmic programming. It is established that this destructive influence extrapolates to the institutions of indirect expression of will, in particular to representation, where the distortion of the representative’s independent formation of will leads to the conclusion of agreements that directly contradict the interests of the principal. The study reveals that the use of artificial intelligence for the analysis of individual digital footprints and psychometric profiling renders existing civil law instruments of protection against fraud helpless, since microtargeting is aimed at changing the subject’s value system of evaluating a transaction, rather than reporting false facts. The urgent need to introduce the categories of “informational coercion” and “informational exploitation of vulnerability” into scientific circulation is proven, alongside the reform of judicial expertise through the development of new psycholinguistic methods for assessing the real state of an individual’s cognitive freedom.