Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) Framework Workshop
Background
European citizens are all exposed to an infodemic spreading increasingly which can severely impact their democratic participation and engagement. This may include disinformation, misinformation, fake news, and other types of interference on different issues related to public life. A pre-emptive approach needs to be taken to decrease the worsening impact, such as using vaccination against the spread of the pandemic.
During IMMUNE 2 INFODEMIC we immunised EU citizens against disinformation and misinformation by empowering and equipping them with several easy-to-use tools. The project consortium co-produced 3 instruments (vaccines): digital literacy, media literacy, and critical thinking; and applied these instruments to 3 selected hot themes (boosters): elections, COVID-19 and migration.
In IMMUNE 2 INFODEMIC 2, we will cover 3 new topics: AI-enabled disinformation, Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), and environmental/climate change. We will immunize citizens against disinformation on these topics and increase general awareness on disinformation during events in Belgium, Finland, Germany and Netherlands, and through our e-learning platform.
Vulnerable citizens/residents having limited/no knowledge about mis/disinformation activities but using social media extensively will be targeted for the injection in different forms of in-situ and online events with the support of multipliers including media professionals, social media influencers and civil society organisations.
Aim and Scope
The FIMI framework workshop aims to develop guidelines for selecting cases and formulating tools against dis/misinformation in terms of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference. The workshop will focus on 3 pre-defined subtopics concerning FIMI. Each subtopic will shortly be presented by an expert, after which we will explore these topics more deeply during guided discussions within smaller groups.
The workshop will bring field experts, researchers, practitioners, media and communication experts, decision/policy makers, etc. together.
The participants will learn more about the priorities of the European Union, the project activities and will be able to exchange insights, knowledge, experiences and contribute to our democracy by making a difference via this EU project.
Participants were informed about the project objective, outputs and activities by the project coordinator. In the breakout workshops participants gave their inputs for defining the frame for project instruments and themes by brainstorming key dis/misinformation narratives, tactics and main skills and strategies for immunising our citizens.
The first part of the workshop focused on foreign interference in elections. Technics and tactics were brought to attention by Dr. Naďa Kovalčíková, as well as lessons learned from the last US elections. During the discussion that followed, the participants were asked to reflect on the main narratives that are being spread by foreign actors, the tactics that they use, and what the citizens should be aware of not to be manipulated by these actors. Observed hybrid threats during the European elections were discussed, among others Dobbelgänger websites, fake accounts, usage of AI, and cyber-attacks, as well as breadth of hybrid operations.
The second speaker of the event, Saman Nazari, focused on information overload. By this we mean generating information pollution, flooding existing hashtags, and conducting swarming (coordinated use of accounts to flood information space). The challenges that these techniques bring to fact checkers were discussed among others, along with how to increase resilience of the citizens against (dis)information overload.
Lastly, the broad context of the attempts to spread Russian ideology was presented by the third speaker, Olena Snigyr. The link between Russian narrative and Chinese propaganda was discussed, as well as how Russia reaches out to post-colonial countries attempting to turn them against the West, spreading the image of ‘liberal Nazism’ and picturing themselves as the liberator. The current disinformation narratives regarding Ukraine were discussed, as well as future expectations and what the citizens should be aware of.
Schedule
31 January 2025
Residence Palace, Wetstraat 155,
1040 Brussels (Schuman)
Coffee and Registration
09:00 - 09:30
A short introduction of the project and the structure of the workshop
Beyond the Horizon ISSG
09:30 - 09:40
Russian Foreign interference in elections
Dr. Naďa Kovalčíková, Senior Analyst and Project Director, EU Institute for Security Studies – Transnational Security
09:40 - 09:50
Discussion in groups
What are the main disinformation narratives and tactics around elections?
What should our citizens be aware of? What kind of narratives and tactics can we expect in the upcoming years/elections?
09:50 - 10:15
Information overload
Saman Nazari, Research Lead at Alliance4Europe
10:15 - 10:25
Discussion in groups
10:25 - 10:50
War in Ukraine
Olena Snigyr, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute
10:50 - 11:00
Discussion in groups
11:00 - 11:25
Presenting the ideas from each topic
11:25 - 11:50
Lunch
11:50 - 12:30
