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.

For medical professionals whose primary focus is mental health, it is no secret that exposing details about a committed suicide, either directly or through the media, increases the likelihood of suicidal behavior in others. There is even a term for this phenomenon – suicide contagion.

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.

The concept of “think before you click” is one of the most important factors in terms of information safety. This regards everything that is offered to you on social networks, the advertisements that pop up as you read a text on a web-page, links that “invite” you to open them as you are watching a YouTube video, and the "like" button.

The field of social media is constantly changing. We observe them both as users, but also as citizens. Social media platforms are a tool for influencing consumer and civic decisions. We invited Katarzyna Szymielewicz (Panoptykon), a lawyer specializing in human rights and technology, to discuss how large platforms work, how they affect the functioning of individuals and groups, and what changes we can observe in the near future.

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?

During 2023, the world has been more affected by misinformation due to the impact of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, lack of trust in the media and institutions, and the growth of social networks.

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.

The number of online purchases by Macedonian citizens is increasing, and concurrently, scams targeting citizens shopping on virtual stores are proliferating. To avoid "emptying" credit cards through scams, there are several recommendations that we, as citizens, should follow when making our online purchases.

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.

The influx of media texts, videos, photos, as well as social media posts, nowadays is immense, as they constantly appear on our devices through which we communicate on the internet daily. Bombastic headlines and announcements of spectacular discoveries in such content often lead us to forget one of the fundamental rules of creating media content — the signature of the author behind them.

Two headlines of news articles appear to you simultaneously: the first one reads, “Wonderful Weather Today!” whereas the second one announces, "Terrible Storm Is Approaching the Country!". Which headline would you click on?

What needs to be thought through and then re-planned in an advocacy campaign? How is it possible to keep a message alive for years? Can one of the most vulnerable people in the society fight for change? The 'Let's move so they can move!' campaign organiser tells us how it has been built in the fight for public and social recognition of homecare as a job.

In Poland, historians have written extensively about conspiracy theories - this fact provides an additional argument to teach about the problems that conspiracy theories cause in the era of revision of history in many European countries. What are the most bizarre conspiracy theories about the war in Ukraine that you have encountered so far?

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.

In this space we talk to Juan David García and La Fiera, the two artists who work in Casa Kolacho and live in the Comuna 13 and were part of the transformation process held in the community.

Disinformation and online manipulation is a widespread issue, targeting a number of minority groups based on gender, sexual expression, race, age, and more. In light of the rise in politically driven attacks on the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, it's critical to counter disinformation in order for them to receive treatment for physical and mental health, sex reassignment procedures, and have safer spaces in schools and communities.

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.

How eye witnessing and capturing the spur of the moment prevents disinformation

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

Due to the ongoing pandemic the schools are closed, and do you, most likely have the privilege of working from home? Well, in this case, you probably have never been so present in your child’s “school life”, even if it’s currently limited to e-learning.

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.

Do you sometimes ask yourself: how to help my teenage kid with homework? That’s perfect! Use this opportunity to show how to read laterally and effectively verify sources of information.

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.