Descripción del proyecto
Un análisis profundo de la desinformación digital rusa
La expansión de la tecnología de internet ha permitido los ataques con información falsa digital a las campañas electorales en los Estados de la Unión Europea durante los últimos años y Rusia ha sido acusada de orquestarlos. La interferencia digital en las elecciones planteó serias preocupaciones sobre el futuro de las sociedades europeas. El proyecto RUSINFORM, financiado con fondos europeos, utilizará métodos computacionales y tradicionales para investigar de forma sistemática la relación entre la propaganda extranjera soviética y la actual guerra digital de la información rusa. Se estudiará la función que desempeñan los medios sociales y el público extranjero en línea en la transmisión del contenido de los medios de comunicación rusos a los medios de comunicación de habla rusa en el extranjero. También se investigará el papel que desempeña el motor de búsqueda controlado por el Kremlin, Yan-dex, en la influencia en el extranjero.
Objetivo
Over the past decade, Russia’s ruling elites have massively stepped up their efforts to influ-ence media audiences abroad. Amongst others, Russia has been alleged to have sought to sway votes in Austria, France, Germany, Ukraine, and the US. This project’s overarching research ques-tion is: How, and with what consequences, have new Internet-based technologies contributed to the emergence of novel resources, techniques, and processes by which political elites in Moscow can influence media audiences abroad?
In order to address this question, a theoretical work package (WP4) will undertake the first major systematic effort to interrogate how much, or how little, we can leverage extant in-depth knowledge of former-Soviet foreign propaganda, conducted in the broadcast era, in order to make sense of Russia’s recent digitally-enabled efforts.
WP4 will be informed by three empirical WPs. They will scrutinize three heavily digitally-enabled elements of Russia’s recent efforts:
• WP1 will conduct a comprehensive in-depth study of foreign active online audiences and other co-creators of Russia-related content.
• WP2 will produce pioneering research about how social media platforms function as key transmission channels that connect Russia’s domestic media with Russian-speaking audiences abroad.
• WP3 will be the first study to scrutinize the role of the Kremlin-controlled search engine Yan-dex as a resource of foreign influence.
Methodologically, WP1-3 are highly innovative because they combine new computational methods (data mining, automated text analysis) with traditional methods (surveys, in-depth inter-views, grounded theory).
In response to Russia’s recent efforts, countermeasures have been ushered in by a plurality of actors, including the EU, NATO, and NGOs. These actors will benefit immensely from the knowledge generated, which will enable them to enhance their initiatives to secure democratic elec-toral processes against undue informational interference.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
94032 Passau
Alemania