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Understanding citizens' vulnerability to disinformation and data-driven propaganda
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Understanding citizens' vulnerability to disinformation and data-driven propaganda

Case study : the 2018 Italian general election

Väljaande metaandmed

This report analyses citizens’ vulnerabilities to disinformation and hostile narratives, taking the 2018 Italian General Election as a case study. Manipulated information, using a mix of emotionality and rationality, has recently become so pervasive and powerful to the extent of rewriting reality, when spread in an environment where the narration of facts (true, partial or false) counts more than the facts themselves. Disinformation greatly differs from “fake news”, which has been mainly used by politicians as a derogatory term to label news sources that allegedly do not support their positions. Nevertheless, studies have shown that false stories are diffused faster, farther and deeper than any other type of information. Coordinated disinformation campaigns tend to exploit the inner weaknesses of social platforms in order to reach the targeted audience with absolute accuracy. Until a few years ago, the sources of information were numerous but controllable. The system was centralized, with a one-way transmission system (sender-receiver), which could reach a large number of people not connected to each other. Nowadays, with internet platforms, the geography of communication coincides with the boundaries of the platform itself. Therefore, through a limited number of passages, information may reach very distant points and in a few hours can became viral, regardless of its correctness. Technological advances have provided producers and sharer of distorted information with new powerful means to reach an ever-wider audience. Social networks, in fact, are able to attract and engage millions of people by giving them a platform where disinformation can spread exponentially fast, often being uncritically picked-up and redistributed to an even larger audience by traditional media. Those platforms were in principle neutral. However, they came to acquire a greater socio-economic value, and became a powerful tool that politicians quickly learned to exploit to address citizens directly, raising new questions concerning the relationship between classical mediation institutes of representative democracy.
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ISSN 1831-9424
ISBN 978-92-76-03320-2
DOI 10.2760/919835
Katalooginumber KJ-NA-29741-EN-N
ISSN 1018-5593
ISBN 978-92-76-03319-6
DOI 10.2760/153543
Katalooginumber KJ-NA-29741-EN-C
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ISSN 1831-9424 ISBN 978-92-76-03320-2 DOI 10.2760/919835 Katalooginumber KJ-NA-29741-EN-N
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ISSN 1018-5593 ISBN 978-92-76-03319-6 DOI 10.2760/153543 Katalooginumber KJ-NA-29741-EN-C
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