Project description
Providing a toolkit against the diffusion of misinformation on social media
Social media has taken the world by storm over the past 15 years or so. The instantaneous diffusion of fake news and misleading information across these channels is, unfortunately, a sign of our times. This phenomenon poses a risk to democracy, national security and the social fabric, undermining society's trust in the information. The EU-funded SOMA project aims to shed light on social media dynamics and the relationship between social media and other sectors. The project aspires to create a solid environment to increase awareness among stakeholders on social media topics and develop tools and instruments for the social media community.
Objective
An exponential increase in the use of social media has accelerated information diffusion. Disinformation also spreads, often faster and more widely than true news, posing a risk for democracy, national security, and social fabric, and undermining society’s trust in the information. It is therefore necessary to understand and measure the impacts of disinformation on opinions, culture, policy, and profits, as well as develop specific tools and services to allow citizens and the professional community to understand Social Media correctly. The SOMA (Social Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis) project aims to provide a springboard for the social media sector to steer an understanding of its dynamics and the relationship between social media and other sectors. SOMA will: map European social media actors by using an open community-based mapping service; establish a European centre for social media stakeholders undertaking research on disinformation; and, develop a Source Transparency Index to immediately verify sources. Key proposed solutions are: (i) a platform for content verification; (ii) fact-checking tools; (iii) social media mapping and visualisation tools for the engagement of European Social Media Innovation initiatives and EU projects. SOMA will also: (iv) develop a methodology for the socio-economic impact assessment of disinformation; (v) provide strategies and actions to increase media literacy, analyse legal roadblocks and community-based self-regulation aspects; (vi) provide policy recommendations based on the analysis of the information collected by the Observatory; (vii) develop tools for community-mapping and an analysis of a future hyper-connected society; (viii) create a repository of disinformation-related knowledge. The overall expected impact by SOMA is the creation of a solid environment to increase awareness among stakeholders on social media topics and develop tools and instruments for the social media community.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator
15233 Athina
Greece
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.