Tensions often rise before elections, but recent violent attacks on politicians in Germany and Slovakia highlight a growing trend of politically motivated violence against public figures in Europe and beyond. Over the past five years, incidents like the 2020 attempt to storm the German parliament and the successful storming of the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 have become more common. The political climate has evidently shifted, with verbal and physical violence now frequent in debates and on the campaign trail. The pandemic's aftermath has left many feeling anxious and isolated, making them vulnerable to disinformation that polarises society, undermines trust in institutions and democratic processes, and manipulates political narratives. Preventing such disinformation-induced violence is a key goal of the FERMI project.

Beware

Disinformation, though not new, has become a prominent concern since 2016, the year of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. The covid-19 pandemic further highlighted the negative impact of disinformation on society, causing widespread mistrust in scientific evidence and contributing to political unrest. This has spurred political action, particularly in Europe, leading to measures like the Digital Services Act (DSA), the regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, and the EU Artificial Intelligence Act to name but a few. Despite these efforts, the continuous flow of disinformation, exacerbated by AI-generated content, has eroded trust in institutions and democracy. Rebuilding this trust requires long-term, multifaceted strategies beyond the immediate actions focused on social media accountability. Maintaining momentum and expanding efforts to address disinformation on various fronts are crucial for reversing the decline in public trust.

Complementing Regulation 

Regulation is an important element in the fight against online disinformation. Their implementation and enforcement are resource intensive and likely going to be a priority of the next European Commission. However, it is important to understand that no law will ever rid social media platforms of harmful content altogether. Disinformation is never going to go away. While strong regulation and effective implementation can curb the spread of disinformation, users will never be able to fully trust the content they see online. What is more, disinformation tactics constantly evolve; AI makes creation and distribution easier and cheaper, but also allows micro targeting. Hence, it is absolutely crucial to equip individuals with relevant skills and tools to protect themselves from such manipulation. 

Increasing societal resilience through media literacy

Media literacy encompasses a range of skills, including critical thinking, information evaluation, communication, and digital literacy. As such, it empowers individuals to critically consume and evaluate online content. Media literacy interventions can take different shapes or forms. The Bad News game, for instance, utilises gamification to train people from the ages 14 and up to identify and build cognitive resistance against common forms of manipulation. The game is backed by scientific evidence and has inspired a whole range of similar media literacy interventions. Fostering such skills will gradually increase societal resilience to disinformation, giving individuals agency and taking away power from external actors. For that reason, FERMI integrates the community resilience and risk management modeller in its software tool which will allow law enforcement agencies to better understand the resilience level of the affected community and take appropriate action. The more resilient a society or community, the less impactful disinformation campaigns will be. That is why the FERMI project combines short- and long-term measures that address both the immediate threat of disinformation and decrease a community’s susceptibility to disinformation. As such, the FERMI platform allows users to analyse the disinformation landscape in a certain community and to gauge the potential of specific disinformation activities to cause real-world harm based on the level of societal resilience of said community. FERMI’s approach is unique in that it takes a more comprehensive approach acknowledging that disinformation will remain a constant feature of the online world and suggesting countermeasures with immediate and long-term effects.

Time to invest in society

Building societal resilience takes time and resources. Media literacy interventions need to be tailored to the specific needs of the target audience, they must be updated regularly to reflect technological progress and they require constant learning on the participant’s side. Media literacy is not a quick fix but one that has been proven to work effectively and sustainably to inoculate people against disinformation [1]. To strengthen democracy and empower people as active and informed citizens beyond election cycles, governments should continue to invest in media literacy interventions and ensure they are incorporated into education at all levels. The effects will not be immediate but they will have a tangible impact on the health and resilience of our democracies.

[1] Jeong, S. H., Cho, H., & Hwang, Y. (2012). Media Literacy Interventions: A Meta-Analytic Review. The Journal of communication, 62(3), 454–472. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01643.x

Jon Roozenbeek et al. ,Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media.Sci. Adv.8,eabo6254(2022). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.abo6254 

Neylan, J., Biddlestone, M., Roozenbeek, J. et al. How to “inoculate” against multimodal misinformation: A conceptual replication of Roozenbeek and van der Linden (2020). Sci Rep 13, 18273 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43885-2