At the present stage of the development of information technologies, social networking services have become a leading means of mass communication with a significant impact on all spheres of public activity. Thanks to its popularity and communication benefits, social networking services are used by leading nations to achieve their own geopolitical goals. Through information operations in social networking services, one can spread manifestations of hostility on national, religious, or ethnic grounds, and thus increase the level of social tension, dissatisfaction with the existing system of governance, etc. That may have further consequences in real social and political life, with the subsequent transition to chaotic social dynamic. Therefore, the provision of state information security in social networking services in the conditions of globalization of the information space and hybridization of military conflicts remains one of the most pressing problems not only for Ukraine, but globally. This article analyses the peculiarities of the use of social networking services during the hybrid war with the Russian Federation. It was established that the counterpart party carried out information operations using social bots, informational and information-psychological influence on the actors of virtual communities. In addition to these actions, operations involved actors with the task to enhance the impact of negatory material and destructive propaganda. The authors then elaborate methodological principles of providing information security of the state in social networking services by implementing procedures for detection, assessment and countering threats in the information space. Effectiveness of the proposed methodological principles is achieved by developing timely measures to identify and assess threats, using the natural peculiarities of the interaction of actors in social networking services for the synthesis of controlling influence and artificially managed transition to a definite stable state of information security of the state.