The current era is characterized by a high degree of polarization of society and an increase in intolerance supported by targeted information management and marketing, especially in the context of identifying truth and disinformation. The purpose of the paper was to identify and compare research on soft and hard power in the context of marketing manipulation and totalitarianism. For the contribution, heuristics and comparison of sources from the ProQuest database and analysis of the dynamics of the spread of information using the SLOPE method, regression and correlation analysis were used. Research conclusions confirm the strong polarization of society, the increase in targeted provocations and forgeries, which is more characteristic of forms of hard power. The added value of the research is the heuristics performed in the Scholarly Journals databases.