Separating fact from fiction

As professional communicators, how can we counter misinformation and disinformation? It is our ethical duty to society to counter mis- and disinformation. We look at recent case studies. 

Transcript

Separating fact from fiction

As professional communicators, how can we counter misinformation and disinformation? That was the basis of a question posed on the AI-generated LinkedIn Expert Answers.

It is our ethical duty to society to counter mis- and disinformation. Let’s first look at a recent case study. On 6 December, the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the presidential election because a Russian-financed social media campaign propelled a political unknown, Cǎlin Georgescu, to a run-off contest to be Romania’s President. Georgescu is, of course, a pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine, Eurosceptic and Trump supporter. Russian sources funded his social media campaign for the Presidency on TikTok, Telegram and other platforms. The Constitutional Court published declassified intelligence on this online manipulation. 25,000 pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts were started two weeks before the first vote. In addition, Romanian TikTok influencers said they didn’t know who paid them for content. They thought they were encouraging voter participation. Yeah, yeah. 

Just to the west of Romania, in Slovakia, the populist, pro-Russian, anti-Ukraine Eurosceptic, and Trump supporter (get the persona?) won Slovakia’s parliamentary election in September 2023 due in part to a deepfake audio recording of his opponent, Michal Šimečka, who a couple of days before the election was leading in the polls. The deepfake was of Šimečka discussing voter manipulation using the Roma minority, a discriminated against and disliked ethnic group in Slovakia. This is another example of weaponised disinformation. I have seen no evidence that either Russia or Fico was behind this. However, I met Fico while a diplomat in Slovakia in the early 2000s, and I would describe him as a nasty piece of work. 

Russia has an active campaign of hybrid warfare against Europe. It wants to cause as much chaos and dissent as possible. After some rather bodged attempts at stunts (Eiffel Tower, etc.), it is now using websites, social media and money. This has also happened in Moldova and Georgia over the last few months.

What can a PR person do about disinformation? First of all, don’t ignore it as the norm. If the misinformation is about your organisation, immediately put it down. The crisis comms guru Professor Tim Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) is about perceived responsibility and reputational threat. He suggests that the organisation should use a ‘Deny Strategy’ against misinformation, refuting the false information to sever any perceived link between the organisation and the crisis. This works best when misinformation can be clearly disproven.

What about if you encounter an online post that is not about your organisation but you think is mis- or disinformation? Do a quick check by looking for clues in the post. Ask yourself these questions:

❓Does it look authentic?

❓Who created it?

❓When and where did it happen?

❓Who said that and why?

If the post is likely to constitute misinformation, post a reply curating a credible fact-checking source. BBC Verify is excellent at fact-checking current issues.

It may be a challenging task to counter disinformation. Russia and other rogue states have power. However, as professional communicators, we must call out and eradicate misinformation and disinformation.

[Image: NEOSiAM 2024+ on Pexels]