Hybrid threat, infowar, tool of non-linear warfare. Disinformation poses a risk to our democracy, but specialized organizations and institutions are joining forces to counter it. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs finances the project because it is aware of the risks posed by foreign interference," says Giuliana Del Papa, Head of Analysis and Programming at the Farnesina, during the event "Disinformation in Italy: where to find it and how to fight it" at Luiss University in Rome. The event presented the results of a collaboration between the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, the Luiss Data Lab research center directed by Gianni Riotta and Professor Livia De Giovanni, the Department of Law at Luiss Guido Carli University, the University of Michigan, and the Institute of Digital Geopolitics.
The objectives? Understand the logic and behavior of "disinfluencers" in our country. The results? A profile of disinformers, their narratives, and legal interventions to counter them, to prevent Italy from becoming more and more the "battlefield of disinformers," as defined by Costanza Sciubba Caniglia of the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, given the high levels of infiltration of Russian propaganda recorded since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
"They are well-organized from a technical and infrastructural point of view. Their action often starts from social media but spreads to websites, organizations, and databases. They have networks of loyal followers interested in their cause, including lawyers, doctors, and professionals, contrary to the false opinion that the phenomenon of fake news concerns only less affluent social classes," says Irene Pasquetto, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, speaking about the analyzed disinfluencers and their networks.
The study identifies three main topics where disinformation spreads particularly easily: women and politics, health disinformation, and climate change. Renee DiResta, Research Manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, also attended the event and delivered a keynote speech on the impact of false narratives on Covid-19 and vaccines worldwide.
Women in Politics
Disinformation narratives involving women and their relationship with politics differ from others due to the high presence of misogynistic hate speech. Offensive nicknames and insinuations of a sexual nature are among the most common practices, along with accusations of incompetence. However, insinuations about their physical appearance are not lacking. Ugly, abusive, enemies of the family, and liars are just some of the labels attributed to women, along with those related to their emotional aspects: delusional and capricious. The denigratory strategy involving female subjects often aims to turn women into a "means" with which disinfluencers attack decrees, laws, and political choices that, precisely because they relate to the targeted women, lose their validity. Immigration, gender education, civil and women's rights are the areas where the most significant attacks occur.
Health Disinformation and the War in Ukraine
American biolabs in Ukraine preparing for a bioweapon war? An example of crossover disinformation in which NoVax communities and disinformers about the war in Ukraine joined forces by exploiting the distrust towards the medical laboratories of the former and the propagandistic demands of Moscow of the latter. "By monitoring the communication channels of the NoVax community, we have witnessed a progressive shift of attention from topics related to the pandemic to the theme of the war in Ukraine. This has occurred especially on more generalist NoVax channels, while specialized ones have maintained a more constant focus on the pandemic," says Michelangelo Gennaro, Assistant Researcher at Luiss Data Lab. Among the most viral NoVax theories is the "VAIS," according to which a "holocaust" against the unvaccinated community is being planned. It is a subcategory of the narrative that predicts the establishment of a sanitary dictatorship supported by global elites.
Climate Change
Environmental lockdowns and energy blackouts. Disinfluencers linked to climate change denial distort current issues to reinforce their theories. Two of the most emblematic examples include the incorporation of environmental protection into the Constitution (reform of February 8, 2022), which, in the denialist narrative, would legitimize "green" lockdowns to reduce population consumption. The second links Italy's energy problems and dependence on Russia to political choices made in response to climate change, which would have prevented achieving energy autonomy. The result? The imminent decision to proceed with "energy blackouts" justified by environmentalist ideology.
Role of Platforms and Legal Profiles to Counter Disinformation
Is it possible to use criminal law to counter disinformation? The research group of the Department of Law at Luiss University answers negatively. "No legally protected interest can be identified in the context of disinformation as such," says Emanuele Birritteri, a research fellow in Criminal Law. A different case is when fake news causes harm to interests other than the mere truthfulness of the news, such as when it affects property (in the case of fraud) or destabilizes public order.
The research group led by Antonio Gullo, full professor of Criminal Law at Luiss, recommends that the legislator establish regulations holding major platforms like Meta, Twitter, or TikTok accountable. The absence of a clear legal framework risks granting too much power to companies that can influence which topics dominate public debate. "In the absence of rules, platforms adopt very different and often opaque approaches to how they intend to counter disinformation," concludes Gullo.
By Francesco Di Blasi, practicing journalist of the Master in Journalism and Multimedia Communication at Luiss "Guido Carli."