SOFT POWER AS A SECURITY THREAT: HOW GLOBAL VIDEO PLATFORMS ARE REDEFINING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

For decades, soft power was understood as a peaceful instrument of international influence-a nation's ability to attract and persuade others through culture, values, and ideas rather than force. Today, however, the rise of global video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube has transformed soft power into something far more contested: a domain where influence overlaps with information control, data access, and narrative shaping, leading many governments to regard foreign-owned platforms not merely as commercial services, but as potential threats to national sovereignty. This article examines how third countries-across Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and beyond-are caught between the enormous popular appeal of these platforms and growing concerns that they enable external powers to shape public opinion, harvest sensitive data, and bypass national laws. It argues that the soft power wielded through global video platforms has fundamentally altered the meaning of national sovereignty, extending competition into the daily feeds of ordinary citizens and forcing governments to defend their informational borders as seriously as their physical ones.