Descrizione del progetto
Uno sguardo più attento alla disinformazione digitale in Russia
L’espansione della tecnologia di Internet ha consentito, nel corso degli ultimi anni, gli attacchi di disinformazione digitale alle campagne elettorali negli stati dell’UE, attacchi che la Russia è stata accusata di aver orchestrato. L’interferenza digitale avvenuta nelle elezioni ha sollevato gravi preoccupazioni riguardo al futuro delle società europee. Il progetto RUSINFORM, finanziato dall’UE, impiegherà metodi computazionali e tradizionali per effettuare una ricerca sistematica sul rapporto che intercorre tra la propaganda straniera sovietica e l’effettiva guerra digitale alle informazioni della Russia. Il progetto studierà il ruolo svolto da social media e pubblico on-line stranieri nella trasmissione dei contenuti mediatici russi ai media stranieri che parlano russo. Inoltre, RUSINFORM approfondirà il ruolo del motore di ricerca controllato dal Cremlino Yan-dex nell’influenza straniera.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
94032 Passau
Germania