This Local Action case study presents how 30 students from Romania created an awareness campaign in which they informed and motivated their peers about the importance of voting. The campaign also focused on techniques for countering disinformation that young people could apply in their everyday lives.

In today’s society, influenced by social media, the lure of online trends can often lead to actions with dangerous consequences. TikTok is a social media platform where users can create, share, and watch short videos.

When it comes to reading, many opt for easy and enjoyable reads, but we have an excellent recommendation for those looking for something more profound.

“The Mirage of Truth: Complexities and Challenges of Disinformation in the Western Balkans” is a perfect read for those who want to learn more about the disinformation landscape in the region.

A student party in Skopje this spring took an unexpected turn when playing an Albanian song towards the end of the event sparked controversy and hate speech on social media. Despite the organization’s inclusive nature, which includes members from diverse ethnic backgrounds, a nationalist group named “Patriotsko drushtvo” (Patriotic Society) on Instagram, self-proclaimed as a “young, ambitious group of patriots filled with enthusiasm,” criticized the inclusion of the song in Albanian, triggering hate speech aimed at the student organization.

What can we learn about our organization using social media monitoring tools?

The biggest manipulators, including, for example, Arthur Finkelstein, who developed the Soros campaign, realized important things about the workings of the public, which we need to understand if we want video campaigns aimed at social change.

In an era where disinformation is a persistent threat to democratic societies, understanding its complex and evolving nature is crucial for the resilience of civil society organizations (CSOs) and the wider society.

Images created by artificial intelligence are becoming more and more realistic, and thus more difficult to distinguish from real photographs. There are several methods which may be used to identify photographs created by AI, by noticing their unnatural textures or warped backgrounds.

The message that the EU is useless for Moldova has been perpetuated for ten years, in all electoral periods: be it the general local, parliamentary or presidential elections, after Chișinău signed the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union. This autumn, when Moldovans choose their future country president, they will also decide the future of their country’s alliances: with the East or with the West.

The rise of AI technology has raised significant concerns about the spread of disinformation, but also about fraud and privacy breaches. Deepfakes, which are highly realistic synthetic media messages created using artificial intelligence, have a potential to deceive and manipulate on a massive scale. These sophisticated manipulations could be done in different forms, such as video, audio, and image, and the result is often indistinguishable, making it very challenging to discern a difference between real and manipulated content.

The Ukraine Solidarity Response Initiative (USRI) was born out of a critical need to fight the rampant disinformation related to the war in Ukraine after full invasion in 2022.

One of the disinformation frontlines concerns food and its production. Its aim is to spread fabrications through these topics to support the Kremlin's “traditional” long-term disinformation narratives. These narratives are largely about the decadent West disregarding traditional values, the upcoming catastrophe, which is always around the corner, but never actually happens and caring more about the LGBTQ+ community than about the so-called traditional families.

In a world flooded with information, determining the credibility of sources we use to inform our choices is more critical than ever. Source analysis tools are essential for verifying the reliability of news and information, helping us to separate fact from fiction.

We live in an era where visual content can be easily manipulated. Thus, image and video analysis tools are crucial for verifying the authenticity of media. Learn how to utilize these tools to detect alterations, trace origins, and ensure the integrity of images and videos.

Believing that both COVID and the vaccines have been engineered as bioweapons is predicated, at least in part, on influencers and media outlets keeping on repeating the claim. The same can be said for other beliefs, such as in the QAnon conspiracy theory, centered around the claim that there is a cabal of elites that traffic children and consume their blood, or insisting that the 2020 US elections have been “stolen”, despite significant evidence to the contrary.

What is the aim of the Learning Groups?

We aim to create a safe and inspiring learning space for activists, educators, and local leaders from EU member states, who are working in an environment vulnerable to disinformation.

There is an interesting trend in the alternative media ecosystem to claim that journalists, academics, and media analysts that expose false narratives are just attacking valid opinions, labelling them misinformation, disinformation or propaganda to discredit them. Ironically, this belief is the foundation of several false narratives used to attack mainstream media and promote themselves.

In today's world of lightning-fast information sharing through digital platforms, it's important to understand the different types of misinformation and disinformation. However, some terms used to describe them, such as "fake news" and "propaganda," can be confusing and even politically charged. It's easy to get lost in the mix and lose sight of what's true and accurate. But don't worry, we are here to help you navigate this complex landscape!

At the request of the NIOK Foundation, TASZ has compiled a useful information leaflet, primarily for civilians, to help you assert your collective and individual interests and rights more effectively.

Are you tired of falling victim to online disinformation? Explore Dren Gërguri's comprehensive three-part video tutorial series, "Tools and Tips for Verifying Online Information," and equip yourself with essential skills to discern truth from deception.

Phishing is not new, has been used to hack or infiltrate for decades. Today, everyone is trying to get in step with the technological evolution. Phishers are not an exclude from that. They are evolving their techniques too. Recently, a new tactic is in surface, and this one is based in AI-generation. Deepfake phishing is a new tactic that adds to the range of challenges we will face from now on and of which we must be very aware.

Nowadays, almost anybody can create audio or video recordings of celebrities or regular people acting and talking in ways they never would have by using simple, widely accessible artificial intelligence software. The rights of the persons whose voices and images are being appropriated will need to be more seriously protected. Big tech-companies have teamed up in a historic attempt to stop the misuse application of AI in the upcoming elections throughout the world.

Here we are, in the center of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the century. How not to get crazy about it? How to recognize when we are manipulated? Forget about straightforward posters of World War II – most propaganda efforts nowadays are hard to recognize, hidden and, many times, spread with no intention or awareness. That is why we prepared nine simple rules to remember, which will help you to spot the propaganda.

The advent of the internet, and social media platforms in particular, has fundamentally changed how we engage with the world, including how we communicate, socialise, learn, work, and participate. While this has presented significant opportunities for the right to freedom of expression, it has also raised several pressing challenges regarding the dissemination of information online, more especially during an election period.

The influx of media content in cyberspace sometimes makes us, as readers, seek information that is different from the rest. For the public, it is crucial to “discover” something new that brings fresh insights into certain important societal issues or questions of personal interest to individuals. However, sometimes behind the “new things”, we see bombastic headlines, spectacular claims unsupported by evidence, unconfirmed or unofficial information, as well as disinformation that can cause more harm than lead to positive change in society.

About 6 years ago, I wrote about a new 'virus' for journalism. Despite the fact that several years have passed, there is still no 'anti-virus' against deepfake, which has advanced, perfected and the last step is to simplify the production process of these hoax videos.

Propaganda and the attack on the truth have been grounded in humanity for centuries. If you read George Orwell's essay, “Review of the Spanish War”, it seems that he is talking about propaganda in the year 2022, but in fact that essay was written entirely 8 decades ago.

As the dust settles from the political storms related to elections that swept Poland and Slovakia in the fall of 2023, we dissect the disinformation tactics that played a crucial role in shaping the election outcomes. From attacking opponents with hoaxes to adopting anti-Ukrainian narratives, and even incorporating artificial intelligence to spread fabricated content, the playbook of political deception is evolving. What can we learn from that example?

Discussing anti-Western narratives is a hot topical issue nowadays, but not a new one - just as propaganda is not an expression of our times, but has a long history behind it. I will not talk about the general course of anti-Western propaganda in Eastern Europe and especially in Romania, but about my personal experience with this field and the sometimes arduous process of countering it with honest and transparent means.

The 2015-2017 period, that brought us Brexit and Donald Trump with his “alternative facts”, also brought politicians the revelation that lying is detrimental to one’s career only if one admits to lying, when one gets caught.

Within the Digital Activism Program conducted by TechSoup and its partners in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since 2018, a pivotal activity focusing on supporting Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in being more resilient to disinformation has been underway. We believe at TechSoup that to bring about change, we must first diagnose the needs of the organizations we support and analyze the current socio-political situation in the countries where we operate. This belief is central to shaping the foundation for all future project activities.

MAKAIA had the privilege of participating in the regional event FITS Democracy 2023, where important topics regarding disinformation, polarization, technology, and innovation were discussed, all within the context of Latin America and the Colombian Caribbean.

Facebook is an attractive space for “meetings,” but too often the debate in such groups can be misleading or full of misinformation. Sometimes a group admin creates a page by pretending to be someone famous. In politically and socially emotive moments, few people check who manages the group. Group admins often grant themselves the exclusive right to add and remove content in the group and, thus, to influence the narratives and emotions in the group.

It takes just a few simple steps to determine whether we have strayed into conspiracy thinking. By understanding what characterizes such thinking, we can examine on our own, or with the help of a friend, whether we are exhibiting healthy skepticism or unwarranted suspicion. In fostering healthy skepticism, it can be helpful to have basic knowledge about the process of creating reliable information.

Climate change is a reality, the global average temperature is now approximately 1°C higher than in the preindustrial era (1880-1900). However, denialism seems to get stronger, propped up by fossil fuel corporations, conservative media, and political groups. From misrepresenting the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration to claiming that climate change is a hoax meant as part of a conspiracy to take over the world, disinformation on the topic is intensifying. We should understand it better and fight it wherever we encounter it; our future may depend on it.

Results of the study about the infodemic in Kosovo during COVID-19, published recently in the journal, “Media and Communication”, show that COVID-19 has had a great impact on people’s behavior when it comes to information.This research analyzed at how people used the media during COVID-19 and how well they could tell the difference between false or misleading information and the truth.

As the world grapples with the increasingly pressing need to address climate change and environmental issues, online disinformation campaigns have emerged as a powerful tool in the manipulation of public perspective, inspiring scepticism, and spreading false information.

In the effort to counter disinformation and improve media literacy, there are several known models for verifying if news articles accurately represent facts and events. However, nowadays, a significant part of communication is informal, for example in the form of social media posts. In such informal forums, misinformation continues to spread with the help of influencers. A new model is thus needed to analyze this type of media content.

Hybrid threats can result in war, and this has been proven by Russia, with the start of the war in Ukraine, after several years of hybrid war with Ukraine. The hybrid war includes a combination of traditional and non-traditional means with coordinated actions in the political, economic, military and information domains.

The Hive Mind* launch in South Africa was a success. We are thankful to all our speakers who gave incredible presentations and supported the need for Hive Mind to help civil society and build digital resilience.

Research findings show that people cannot tell the difference between false and real news. This problem also affects Kosovo society, which has a high percentage of internet access (93%). One of the signs that disinformation influences the public in Kosovo is the outcome of the Raka case which is explained below.

Fake news is used to manipulate and dictate and shape their decision making. Fake news can damage our public discourse. We need to raise awareness and understanding of disinformation and be mindful that our freedom of expression could harm others. The time is now to verify all information.

Artificial intelligence is changing and will change even more the way we live and work. This simulation of artificial intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans have made it possible for humans to be replaced by machines today in some fields. But what does this mean in the field of information and what could be the misuses that we should beware of?

The Empowering Europeans Against Disinformation (EEAD) project is part of TechSoup Network’s Digital Activism Program.

Since 2018, the program has been offering complex support to civil society organizations (CSOs) and their staff in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Latin America and West Africa. In the area of countering disinformation, the program strives to increase their understanding of direct disinformation threats, strengthen their capacity to deal with disinformation, boost their knowledge in this field and expand their connections within the nonprofit network.

Disinformation has become a widespread problem in Africa, with the rise of social media and the internet making it easier for false information to spread. Disinformation can cause harm to individuals and communities, create social and political divisions, and undermine public trust in institutions and leaders. NGOs and charity organizations in Africa play a crucial role in combating it, as they are often on the front lines in communities and have a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities for promoting digital literacy and critical thinking skills.

Cyberpsychologist Gordon Ingram explains the social and psychological consequences of the dynamics promoted by the Internet and social networks.

Several experts give their opinion on the possible global outlook regarding disinformation. Some remain optimistic, while others believe it is a problem that has no solution.

The reasons behind the behaviors that accept and promote disinformation.

Journalists and NGOs around the world have been working for countering disinformation through institutions, organizations, and associations called "fact-checkers" (or, simply: information verifiers), which are dedicated to corroborating and verifying the veracity of information and news disseminated on digital platforms. Fact-checking as we know it today was born with Factchecker.org, a website launched in December 2003 by Brooks Jackson, a former Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, and CNN reporter.

It’s been more than 4 months since Russia escalated the war in Ukraine and we are most likely preparing for a long-term conflict with all its consequences.

Digital revolution has greatly enhanced public vulnerability to manipulation by information. The trend is growing with every year and the term ‘fake news’ doesn’t cover all of its forms anymore. Find out what are the most common information disorders we encounter daily.

We will navigate the characteristics and experience that the use of the Internet has left us as human beings and understand what we leave on the Internet.

The term has taken the academic discussion of philosophers, journalists political scientists but is far from an intellectual discussion. It is present in our daily life and on our social networks.

Join us for a panel discussion about the current war-time disinformation landscape and learn about ways of mitigating its harmful effects.

Your campaign pursues a specific purpose. So, you need to understand whether your actions make the intended impact. In order to do this right, you need the right kind of metrics.

When getting ready to design your online campaign, first, you need to understand the scope of the challenge you are tackling. You ought to figure out what IS the specific problem you should address with your campaign and what is its cause.

“NATO intervention in the Kosovo war was unjustified”. This is the narrative that the Russian and Serbian propaganda has been trying to push forward for many years.

While the war in Ukraine progresses and we are forced to watch the brave men and women fight for their country’s freedom and independence, many others are organizing their lives after being forced to flee their country.

Disinformation techniques are numerous, but all of them can fall into one of those four categories: dismiss, distort, distract, or dismay. Here is the rule of thumb that will help you recognize, predict and prepare to counter disinformation.

Information can come from various sources. Most often than not, you would pick up your smartphone or open your laptop and start scrolling through content; clicking on and sharing whatever looks interesting. However, it is good to know what is going on behind the scenes…

In today's digital world, information warfare is significantly more pronounced. The war in Ukraine is also taking place on several fronts of the information world, in front of video games, TikTok, and that of fact-checkers. Therefore, the focus of journalists should be on news sources, in controlling them to avoid the possibility of fraud from manipulated information.

Value, nowadays, comes in lots of different forms. We have traditional ones, such as time, power, security, health, and money. However, there is another, new form of value which is not yet fully understood: digital information. In this article, our aim is to raise awareness about how Facebook affects us and our loved ones on a daily basis, and how not knowing our rights and the help we can receive open us up to potential harm in the cyberspace.

Nearly 100 years ago, on Easter Sunday, a group of women with cigarettes in their mouths walked down the most prestigious street in New York - Fifth Avenue, doing what women were not supposed to do – smoking in public, which back in the day was "not appropriate”.

Knowledge about disinformation is more important now than ever. Critical thinking is key and it’s worth supporting it with the knowledge on how to recognize different forms of information disorder.

Dezinformacja w służbie Putina, czyli o tym jak nie wpaść w tryby machiny propagandowej: webinarium 03.03.2022 (czwartek); 18:30-19:30

Media ecosystems are used to categorizing all falsehoods as fake news. However, there are differences between the types of disinformation that abound in digital media. Sure, there are fake news, but there are also other categories of misinformation.

This article is a production of Ciudadania Inteligente (Ciudadania AI), a Latin American, inclusive and feminist organization that fights for social justice and for the transformation of democracies.

Datos.Org, a foundation that supports social projects in Colombia with the power of data, talks about the birth of a profession greatly discussed today and what are the challenges faced by Data Scientists.

A humanitarian crisis has gained momentum on the Polish-Belarusian border since August 2021. Alyaksandr Lukashenko, who rules in Belarus, has encouraged thousands of people from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and African countries to come to Belarus. He has done this through a deliberate campaign to disrupt the European Union. Refugees are being forced to cross the Polish border, and those who disobey are being beaten. People at the border have no food or water. Many, including children, have died. We will explore two popular anti-refugee narratives and learn about alternative or counter narratives that are worth spreading and using in discussions.

Whether it's about the ominous powers that can be lizard-people in the skin of public figures, foreigners out to destroy a country, or chips implanted by vaccines against COVID-19, fake news is spreading like wildfire on the Internet. It's not too much of a problem if you think that there are aliens lurking behind the exteriors of politicians, like in a bad B-movie.

But it can be a concrete danger to one's immediate environment to believe that coronavirus vaccines are harmful to the human body.

How do we tell our fake-news believing friends or loved ones that they should think again about these absurd misconceptions?

Digital media strategies used by the Venezuelan government, especially propaganda, provide an ample example for the way different digital tools may be used for manipulation, public opinion disinformation and favoring a particular agenda.

In Hungary, when it comes to the analysis of news, fake news, or in general, any sort of medium, the most suitable subject is a media lesson to learn how to approach the topic. This subject, however, is riddled with so many problems in the already convoluted education system, that in 2020, in the first iteration of the latest National Curriculum, the subject almost got entirely removed.

30 Polish editors-in-chief have recently published a joint appeal to lift the ban on journalists working in the eastern border areas in Poland, where a state of emergency was introduced due to the prolonged migration crisis.

In this short, educational video, Oana Despa and Codruța Simina talk about manipulation and fake news. Oana is the chief editor of Buletin de București and Codruța Simina is a journalist at PressOne, an independent media project very well known in Romania. In this episode, they meet online and together try to find out how to best identify fake sites or accounts in the social network.

It is only human to defend ourselves when someone challenges us or our opinions. In case, however, when they have a clear proof that what we are saying is not based on facts, it is quite logical that we should not continue spreading false statements. If someone decides to do this, regardless of the consequences or harm this may cause, they should better watch out, as it's fact-checking time!

The large number of likes, comments or distributions does not mean that it reflects the real number of people involved in that interactivity. The online public sphere is often contaminated by Bots and Trolls.

Here are some guidelines for your greater well-being as a media consumer. Yes, we are all media consumers. You got that correctly. In the following video, you will find a number of useful tips and tricks that will aid your digital transformation from a regular media consumer to a Media Literacy Expert!

We are living in an era when we can see or hear things that a person in fact did not say. You can’t imagine what Miroslav Lajčák, EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, is declaring in this video! Check it out and see if it's truth or fiction...

No matter how much the media strive to capture reality, and no matter how advanced the technology, the world portrayed in the media, from news reports to science fiction and fantasy films, is always a set, constructed, selected reality. The media, on the other hand, not only filters reality, but also shapes and reflects it. It shapes attitudes, raises or lowers themes, positions and characters. The media has never been a one-way communication process in the sense that the communicator - producer and editor of the content - both can never be sure whether the message means the same to the audience as it does to him. Each and every member of the audience, has a wide range of the freedom of interpretation in the reception of media content, which is often based on their own life experiences, current situation, cognitive abilities and limitations, and complex information environment.

The case discussed in the article clearly shows that manipulating pictures has become an intentional propaganda tool, aiming to distort the truth. Any such cheapfakes are dangerous because they disfigure the reality, making people to believe something far from true.

According to Peter Ditto from the University of California, one of the many reasons why people fall prey to the influence of misinformation lies in so-called motivated reasoning (MR).

If you’re still wondering why you need to be media literate (a skill that is in high demand today more than ever!), you’ll find the answers to this question in this short video. We have singled out the five most important reasons that will help you decide to start studying the media and their messages. The process is relatively straightforward, and you will gain all the necessary skills by simply following our channel. Let’s go!

In this podcast episode, you will hear Jakub Górnicki talking to Tomáš Kriššák about the Project HOPE, within which a set of tools in the form of an online game was designed to help people tackle negative consequences of the Internet and the social media, including cyber-bullying and propaganda.

Major dangers and media manipulation threats in the age of disinformation

A simple guide through the media jungle for senior citizens.

Building resilience against disinformation.

Success stories at the grassroot level.

“Balkan history has been shaped by the territorial ambitions and disputes of the last century, and so has become a zero-sum game; it also has quasi-religious aspects, insofar as current debates reveal an implicit concern with purity and pollution underlying accusations around loyalty and betrayal. Grievances and disputes escalate; and (to pursue the game metaphor) there is no mechanism, in this case, by which both sides would agree to invest a referee with the authority to call the game fairly; the stakes are seen as too high,” says prof. Keith Brown

Missed any of our events, feeling like watching it again diving straight into the extra resources and materials? We've got it covered.

The advancement of technology brings up constant “innovations” in the areas of misinformation and manipulation. Recently, and more frequently, a new form of manipulation has resurfaced under the name ‘cheapfakes’ and is currently a subject to research and discussions.

The ongoing pandemic situation should increase the overall use of social media during the campaign for earlier elections. In order to respect the imposed health restrictions, politicians and political parties would have to avoid party rallies and focus more increasingly on online communication.

We'd like to invite young people associated in non-governmental organizations, informal groups, dialogue bodies and activists acting on their own to free online training sessions on disinformation, recognizing it, preventing and counteracting its negative effects. The training is addressed to all those who understand the importance of disinformation in public life, who would like to learn more about the ways it works, get specific tools of recognition and methods of dealing with it. We also invite people who actively participate in public life (also at the local level) and therefore are most vulnerable to disinformation actions aimed at undermining their credibility and the trust of public opinion, necessary to effectively fight for the public good or the interests of the groups they represent.

How we seek information online matters.