Description du projet
Un examen plus approfondi de la désinformation numérique russe
L’expansion de la technologie de l’internet a favorisé les attaques de désinformation numérique sur les campagnes électorales des États de l’UE au cours de ces dernières années. La Russie a été accusée d’orchestrer ces attaques. L’interférence numérique dans les élections a soulevé de sérieuses inquiétudes sur l’avenir des sociétés européennes. Le projet RUSINFORM, financé par l’UE, recourra à des méthodes informatiques et traditionnelles pour examiner de manière systématique la relation entre la propagande étrangère soviétique et la guerre numérique de l’information menée par la Russie. Il étudiera le rôle que le public étranger en ligne et les réseaux sociaux jouent dans la transmission des contenus des médias russes aux médias russophones situés à l’étranger. Il s’intéressera également au rôle du moteur de recherche Yan-dex contrôlé par le Kremlin dans l’influence étrangère.
Objectif
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.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
94032 Passau
Allemagne