Disinformation

This volume provides a multidisciplinary analysis of disinformation and strategies for tackling it. Authored by a diverse group of scholars and experts, chapters in this volume are divided into three thematic sections. The first section delves into disinformation from various disciplinary perspectives including philosophy, social psychology, economics, international law, data science, anthropology, political science and history. By examining the underlying factors behind disinformation and analyzing its impact on democratic processes, this section sheds light on its complexities, and reminds us that different policy responses are always grounded in different explanatory angles of the phenomenon. The second section focuses on the information ecosystem, investigating the processes, technologies, and actors involved in the spread of disinformation. By examining real-world examples and the roles played by different actors and technologies, this sheds light on the intricate workings of disinformation in different thematic and regional contexts. The book culminates in the third section, which focuses on crafting effective responses to disinformation. Chapters in this section explore policy efforts aimed at ensuring information integrity across the world, and highlight the importance of fundamental rights and evidence-based policy responses, encompassing self and co-regulation, quality journalism, fact-checking organizations and the pivotal role media literacy initiatives.

Paula Gori is based at the European University Institute and is the Secretary-General and Coordinator of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), which she contributed to set up from the very beginning. She is also member of the EDMO Council on Effective Media Literacy Initiatives She joined the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in 2017 where she is a member of the management team. Prior she was the Coordinator of the Florence School of Regulation - Communications and Media, which offers training, policy and research activities on electronic communications regulation and competition and she collaborated with the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, which she coordinated during the initial set-up phase back in 2012 and she is one of the authors of the report for the European Commission on European Union competences in respect of media pluralism and media freedom. Prior to joining EUI, she gained extensive experience at the European Parliament in Brussels. She holds an LL. M in international Law both from Sorbonne University and the University of Florence and a MSc in international relations from the University of Bologna. Her current research interests include: digital policy and regulation, media and information policy and climate change disinformation. Dr Lisa Ginsborg is a Research Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) School of Transnational Governance on the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and is a Lecturer in International Human Rights at New York University (NYU) Florence. She has worked in a number of research and teaching positions, including at University College Dublin (UCD), the EUI-based Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC). She previously worked in the legal department of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International and in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She holds a PhD in Public International Law from the EUI, an MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an LL.M in Comparative, European and International Laws from the European University Institute (EUI). Her research interests in the field of international human rights law, include digital technologies, international institutional law and disinformation and counter-terrorism policy and regulation.

Chapter1: Disinformation and its Socio Political Context.- Chapter2: A Philosophy of Disinformation.- Chapter3: Manipulating Minds The Psychological Underpinnings of Misinformation.- Chapter4: Disinformation Economics.- Chapter5: International Human Rights Law and the Legal Regulation of Disinformation.- Chapter6: Detection Misinformation and Disinformation in Digital Media.- Chapter7: Anthropology of Disinformation.- Chapter8:Journalism and Disinformation.- Chapter9: From The Protocols to Pizzagate.- Chapter10: Disinformation and Trust in Media and Institutions.- Chapter11: Informational Power and Disinformation.- Chapter12: Disinformation and Elections.- Chapter13:Foreign Influence Operations and their Proxies.- Chapter14: Follow the Money Understanding Economic Incentives Behind Online Disinformation.- Chapter15: Generative Artifical Intelligence and Disinformation.- Chapter16: How Heatlh Disinformation Hijacks Health Narratives to Make Profit, Erode Trust and Score Political Points, and What to Do About It.- Chapter17: Climate Change Disinformation.- Chapter18: Uncovering Networks of Cross Platform Information Operations.- Chapter19: The Russo Ukrainian Information War.- Chapter20: Weaponizing the Issue of Ukrainian War Refugees for Political and Geopolitical Gain.- Chapter21: Case study on Social media Analysis in Elections in Kenya.- Chapter22: Media Literacy as a Policy Response to Disinformation.- Chapter23: Independent Fact Checking, ex post Response to Disinformation.- Chapter24:Using AI to Tackle Disinformation Methods and Tools from the vera.ai Project.- Chapte25: Multilateral Efforts on Information Integrity.- Chapter26: Freedom of Expression and its Limits.- Chapter27: Disinformation in Africa Overview and Responses.- Chapter28: The EU Policy Framework to Counter Disinformation.- Chapter29: Disinformation in the US.- Chapter30: Disinformation in Japan.- Chapter31:Disinformation in Brazil.- Chapter32: Blurring the Bright Line.