commbox Disinformation & Misinformation

Countering Online Misinformation Resource Pack

Viviane Bianco et al.

UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (2020), 26 pp.

"The pack provides easy access to various types of resources (tools, reports, toolkits, journal articles, etc.) that can support the development of tactics and plans to counter misinformation. The pack also provides a summary of what the research indicates as potential solutions to tackle misinforma ... more

A digital media literacy intervention increases discernment between mainstream and false news in the United States and India

Andrew M. Guessa, Michael Lernerb, Benjamin Lyonsd, Jacob M. Montgomerye, Brendan Nyhanf, Jason Reiflerg, Neelanjan Sircarh

PNAS, volume 117, issue 27 (2020), 10 pp.

"Using data from preregistered survey experiments conducted around recent elections in the United States and India, we assess the effectiveness of an intervention modeled closely on the world’s largest media literacy campaign, which provided “tips” on how to spot false news to people in 14 cou ... more

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Governance responses to disinformation: How open government principles can inform policy options

Craig Matasick, Carlotta Alfonsi, Alessandro Bellantoni

Paris: OECD (2020), 45 pp.

"This paper provides a holistic policy approach to the challenge of disinformation by exploring a range of governance responses that rest on the open government principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation. It offers an analysis of the significant changes that ... more

Combating Misinformation in Bangladesh: Roles and Responsibilities as Perceived by Journalists, Fact-checkers, and Users

Md Mahfuzul Haque, Mohammad Yousuf, Ahmed Shatil Alam, Pratyasha Saha, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Naeemul Hassan

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, volume 4, issue CSCW2, Article 130 (2020), 32 pp.

"The spread of misinformation on Facebook in Bangladesh, a country with a population of over 163 million, has resulted in chaos, hate attacks, and killings. By interviewing journalists, fact-checkers, in addition to surveying the general public, we analyzed the current state of verifying misinformat ... more

Was tun gegen Verschwörungsideologien? Eine Hilfestellung für den Alltag, im Privat- oder Berufsleben, Unternehmen oder Verein

Melanie Hermann, Jakob Baier

Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb) (2020), 8 pp.

"Neben Fake News transportieren Verschwörungsideologien Inhalte, die die Grundwerte offener und demokratischer Gesellschaften angreifen. Folgende Fragen helfen dabei zu verstehen, was hinter den Erzählungen steckt: Wird ein Feindbild konstruiert und wenn ja, wie? Werden antisemitische, rassistisch ... more

Pillars of Russia's Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State (2020), 76 pp.

"Russia has operationalized the concept of perpetual adversarial competition in the information environment by encouraging the development of a disinformation and propaganda ecosystem that allows for varied and overlapping approaches that reinforce each other even when individual messages within the ... system appear contradictory. This ecosystem reflects both the sources of disinformation and propaganda—official government statements, state-funded media outlets, proxy websites, bots, false social media personas, cyber-enabled disinformation operations, etc.—and the different tactics that these channels use. Russia’s willingness to employ this approach provides it with three perceived advantages. First, it allows for the introduction of numerous variations of the same false narratives. This allows for the different pillars of the ecosystem to fine tune their disinformation narratives to suit different target audiences because there is no need for consistency, as there would be with attributed government communications. Second, it provides plausible deniability for Kremlin officials when proxy sites peddle blatant and dangerous disinformation, allowing them to deflect criticism while still introducing pernicious information. Third, it creates a media multiplier effect among the different pillars of the ecosystem that boost their reach and resonance. The media multiplier effect can, at times, create disinformation storms with potentially dangerous effects for those Russia perceives as adversaries at the international, national, and local level. In the past, Russia has leveraged this dynamic to shield itself from criticism for its involvement in malign activity. This approach also allows Russia to be opportunistic, such as with COVID-19, where it has used the global pandemic as a hook to push longstanding disinformation and propaganda narratives [...] This report provides a visual representation of the ecosystem described above, as well as an example of the media multiplier effect it enables. This serves to demonstrate how the different pillars of the ecosystem play distinct roles and feed off of and bolster each other. The report also includes brief profiles of select proxy sites and organizations that occupy an intermediate role between the pillars of the ecosystem with clear links to Russia and those that are meant to be fully deniable." (Pages 5-7) more

Acciones ciudadanas para verificar información

Maria Ugenia Morales, Carmen Inojosa, Erik Mayora, Joselis Gonzales

Caracas: Espacio Público (2020), 29 pp.

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Die Psychologie des Postfaktischen: Über Fake News, "Lügenpresse", Clickbait & Co.
Top Insights

Markus Appel (ed.)

Berlin: Springer (2020), ix, 219 pp.

"In diesem Buch werden in 18 Kapiteln Phänomene der Kommunikation im digitalen Zeitalter vorgestellt und die psychologischen Hintergründe anhand von wissenschaftlichen Theorien und Analysen erörtert. Viele Menschen sind verunsichert durch eine Medienwelt, die unausgewogen erscheint (Fake News, L� ... more

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Countering Russian & Chinese Influence Activities: Examining Democratic Vulnerabilities & Building Resiliency

Cyrus Newlin, Heather A. Conley, Amy Searight, Tim Kostelancik, Rachel Ellehuus, Jeffrey Mankoff, Devin Stewart

Washington, DC: Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) (2020), v, 31 pp.

"With their heavily censored and restricted civil societies at home, China and Russia exploit the asymmetry of democratic systems by targeting open information environments, freedom of expression, participatory civic discourse, and pluralistic and fluid politics. Democracies have unique vulnerabilit ... more

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WhatsApp Audios and the Remediation of Radio: Disinformation in Brazilian 2018 Presidential Election

Marcelo Kischinhevsky, Itala Maduell Vieira, João Guilherme Bastos dos Santos, Viktor Chagas, Miguel de Andrade Freitas, Alessandra Aldé

Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, volume 18, issue 2 (2020), pp. 139-158

"This article brings the results of an investigation into the role of WhatsApp audio messages in the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections, proposing that instant voice messaging borrows elements from radio language. We started from a broader research, conducted by the Brazilian National Institute o ... more

Strengthening Media Freedom: The Protection of Journalists in Europe, Hate Speech, Disinformation and the Role of Platforms

Gianluca Sgueo

European Parliament (2020), 20 pp.

"European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2020 on strengthening media freedom: the protection of journalists in Europe, hate speech, disinformation and the role of platforms (2020/2009(INI))." (Introduction)

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Demand for Deceit: How the Way We Think Drives Disinformation

Samuel C. Wolley, Katie Joseff

Washington, DC: National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (2020), 38 pp.

"Just because the effectiveness of disinformation may be tied to innate aspects of human psychology does not mean that democratic societies are powerless to respond. Rather, civil society, journalists, and other stakeholders invested in the freedom and openness of the global information space should ... more

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Talking Back: Journalists Defending Attacks Against Their Profession in the Trump Era

Michael Koliska, Kalyani Chadha, Alison Burns

Journalism Studies, volume 21, issue 11 (2020), pp. 1496–1513

"According to neo-institutional theory, the survival of institutions in society is predicated on a cultural discourse. Dubbed “the institutional myth,” this discourse reflects the core values, practices and aspirations of an institution and legitimizes its existence to internal and external stak ... more

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Das ist keine Propaganda: Wie unsere Wirklichkeit zertrümmert wird

Peter Pomerantsev

Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), Sonderausg. (2020), 295 pp.

"Auf der ganzen Welt nutzen unterschiedlichste Akteure die Wirkungsmechanismen der digitalen Medien aus, um durch gezielte Desinformationskampagnen die öffentliche Meinung zu beeinflussen. Dies, so lautet die zentrale These von Peter Pomerantsev, bedrohe Demokratien und Demokratisierungsprozesse. W ... more

Desinformación en Venezuela: Reflexiones en tiempos de pandemia

Andrés Cañizález

Caracas: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB);ABediciones;Medianálisis (2020), 87 pp.

"Todo se inició, en verdad, cuando tuve el encargo, en mi calidad de consultor internacional, de realizar una serie de entrevistas en torno a la desinformación en Venezuela con expertos venezolanos en temas comunicacionales y políticos. Las transcripciones de aquellas notas de voz, que se hiciero ... more

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Liar’s War: Protecting Civilians from Disinformation During Armed Conflict

Elian Katz

International Review of the Red Cross, volume 102, issue 914 (2020), pp. 659-682

"Disinformation in armed conflict may pose several distinctive forms of harm to civilians: exposure to retaliatory violence, distortion of information vital to securing human needs, and severe mental suffering. The gravity of these harms, along with the modern nature of wartime disinformation, is ou ... more

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Digital Resistance: An Empowering Handbook for Teachers on How to Support Their Students to Recognise Fake News and False Information Found in the Online Environment

Strasbourg: Council of Europe (2020), 88 pp.

"This handbook and additional dossiers, freely available at the Digital Resistance project homepage (www.digi-res.eu), provide all the information teachers need to conduct a short module on the topic of “fake news” in the classroom or other settings with a group of students aged between 14 and 2 ... more

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Conspiracy Theories: A Primer

Joseph E. Uscinski

Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield (2020), ix, 159 pp.

"Analyzes current arguments and evidence while providing real-world examples so students can contextualize and visualize the debates. Each chapter addresses important current questions, provides conceptual tools, defines important terms, and introduces the appropriate methods of analysis"--

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Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives

Philip N. Howard

New Haven; London: Yale University Press (2020), xviii, 221 pp.

"Artificially intelligent “bot” accounts attack politicians and public figures on social media. Conspiracy theorists publish junk news sites to promote their outlandish beliefs. Campaigners create fake dating profiles to attract young voters. We live in a world of technologies that misdirect our ... more

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