The article touches upon the most urgent problem of information manipulation with the aim of infl uencing society. In most sources manipulation is interpreted as the use of certain techniques and technologies, under the influence of which the behavior of people changes in the direction necessary for the manipulator. It is noted that the most favorable conditions for the implementation of manipulation technologies are formed in the information society, in which information, knowledge and information technologies play a special role. The analysis of existing theories allows us to consider the information society as a special type of society at the post-industrial stage of development, the production of which is based on information. Various algorithms for presenting information are used, from the elementary dissemination of information that cannot be verifi ed to its purposeful combination, taking into account the peculiarities of perception by diff erent audiences, including the specifi cs of the preferable communication channels. At diff erent stages society development manipulation has its own characteristics. In today's information society, the biggest threat is the media. The media today is a real force in society, which, with the help of information messages, forms certain social attitudes and infl uences the change in a person's beliefs. The process of manipulation includes the imposition of a certain social stereotypes, thanks to which an individual reproduces the necessary behavior patterns, perception and thinking changes. The results of a number of sociological studies reveal the features of impact technologies, among which the authors note the special role of the media in imposing stereotypes through the creation of socially signifi cant images, which also act as propaganda and agitation tools.