For several years, both academic research and the public arena have been focused on observing and analyzing the effects of misinformation and information operations aimed at manipulating public opinion. However, never as in recent years has the threat they pose to democracy appeared so evident.
This research, conceived in 2017 when Italy was an elected member of the United Nations Security Council, and when I had the opportunity to closely observe the effects of misinformation in international relations and public opinions of different countries, seems even more necessary today. The outbreaks of the pandemic and the war in Russia have clearly demonstrated the danger that influenced and manipulated public opinion can pose to democracy and national security.
This research, conducted through a collaboration between the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, LUISS Data Lab, the Department of Law at LUISS Guido Carli University, the Master's in Journalism and Multimedia Communication at LUISS Guido Carli University, the University of Michigan, and the Institute of Digital Geopolitics, is now in its second research cycle. It originated from the need to concretely analyze the effects of manipulative campaigns in Italy and evaluate policy and legislative countermeasures that can be developed in response to the problem.
This research necessity arises from a practical need to provide both public and private institutions with tools to analyze, monitor, and respond to misinformation in Italy and attacks aimed at manipulating information for political, economic, or ideological purposes.
This year, we were fortunate to add a new partner to our collaboration. The organization #ShePersisted, founded by scholar Lucina di Meco, which evaluates attacks, especially online, against women in public and political spheres, participated in drafting a case study on this topic.
This year, three themes were addressed with the study of communities spreading misinformation in Italy. In addition to the case of gender misinformation, we continued the studies of the previous year on Italian AntiVax communities and opened a new research strand focused on misinformation regarding climate change.
However, with the emergence of the crisis in Ukraine, there was a sudden shift in the focus of all communities to topics related to the conflict, starting from February 2022. Thanks to our "census" and monitoring of misinformation networks, we were able to immediately trace these new narratives and share this information with our partners to support real-time monitoring. Therefore, it is through this work of studying networks and information manipulation techniques that, in times of crisis, such as the war in Ukraine, we can respond more quickly and effectively.
In addition to the legal section of the research, there was an update on the institutional and regulatory landscape (in line with last year's work), with a particular focus on the analysis of the progress of the EU Digital Services Act. In conclusion of the legal section, policy recommendations were updated for both public and private actors, including new detailed analytical recommendations to implement strategies to counteract misinformation.
In general, we have observed with pleasure that in recent years, both Italian and European institutions and those of other countries have understood the importance of this challenge and are implementing concrete solutions to address this problem. Examples include innovations in diplomatic communication and institutional coordination at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as new European policies, such as the strengthening of the Code of Practice on Disinformation, recently approved by the European Union.
In the coming years, these initiatives will need to intensify, and our role will be to understand how misinformation spreads in Italy to provide institutions with tools to react. While misinformation is not a new strategic challenge, technological innovations and changes in the information ecosystem in recent years have added additional layers of complexity, leading to the development of new and more sophisticated tactics and strategies. These make these campaigns faster and more effective, allowing various actors, both public and private, domestic and foreign, to intervene deceptively in democratic debates.
And it is for this reason that we have developed this work, which we hope will be useful in facilitating a better understanding of the problem and providing food for thought for policy responses, both public and private. We believe that only through collaboration between various academic research fields, public and private institutions, and digital platforms can effective long-term responses be developed.
Read the research HERE
By Irene Pasquetto, Research Director