The Past and Future of Anti-Ukraine Disinformation: Solutions for Understanding, Processing, and Resilience

The aim of the project is to map the anti-Ukraine disinformation trends observed in recent years and their impact, which will aid understanding, increase resilience to disinformation, and provide lessons for policymakers. Since disinformation related to Ukraine is not expected to disappear, there is a need to monitor it and identify new dissemination channels.
The project’s target groups include citizens interested in public affairs, civil society organizations, journalists, policymakers, and the research community.
Throughout the project, we will use qualitative and quantitative research to measure social impacts and determine whether, alongside the expected decline in disinformation activity, Hungarian society will begin to recover with increased awareness and resilience. We will monitor the online political public sphere using a social media listening tool. Specifically on YouTube, we use an innovative AI based tool to examine the spread of disinformation not only in videos but also in comment sections.
The project contributes to processing the anti-Ukraine disinformation of recent years, understanding its mechanisms of influence, and thereby reducing its harmful effects. If citizens understand the background of the disinformation that has emerged in recent years, this can reduce anti-Ukrainian sentiment and promote social reconciliation. It is particularly important to monitor the evolution of the disinformation landscape and describe new patterns of dissemination.

The project’s target groups are citizens interested in public affairs, civil

society organizations, journalists, policymakers, and the research community.

The number of citizens interested in public affairs and the functioning of the public sphere

has grown dramatically in recent years, as clearly demonstrated by the April

election. A recurring theme in recent public debates has been the functioning of the media, the

role of propaganda, and the presence of disinformation—particularly anti-Ukrainian

narratives. There is interest in this topic, and it is especially important to

further examination of disinformation related to Ukraine at a time

when traditional political fault lines are shifting and

information bubbles are becoming permeable. The applicant organizations have been

demonstrating for years that they are capable of reaching the broader public through their own channels

and via high-reach media outlets. For civil society organizations

working to improve media literacy, as well as for the developers of the new public education program,

analyses illustrating disinformation patterns and the mechanisms by which disinformation operates

can serve as useful input. For journalists, the completed materials and

research reports can provide important new insights, which can be used as the basis for articles

and interviews.

For policymakers, it is particularly important to examine new
channels for spreading disinformation, previously undetected networks,
and formats; this issue is likely to affect not only European but also
Hungarian policymakers. A dialogue may develop primarily with the media authority and
decision-makers in the field of foreign affairs. For the research community,
this innovative research methodology may open up new opportunities,
encourage further research on the topic, and facilitate future collaborations.

The goal of the project is to map the trends in disinformation related to Ukraine observed in recent years and their impact, which will aid understanding, increase resilience against disinformation, and provide lessons for policymakers. Since disinformation related to Ukraine is not expected to disappear, it is necessary to monitor it and identify new channels of dissemination. The project’s target groups include citizens interested in public affairs, civil society organizations, journalists, policymakers, and the research community. The project uses qualitative and quantitative research to measure social impacts and to determine whether, in parallel with the expected decline in disinformation activity, Hungarian society will begin to “heal,” with increased awareness and resilience. The online political public sphere will be monitored using a “social media listening” tool. Specifically on YouTube, an innovative IT solution will be used to examine the scope of disinformation not only in videos but also in comment sections and within the user community. The project contributes to analyzing the anti-Ukraine disinformation of recent years, understanding its mechanisms of influence, and thereby mitigating its harmful effects. If citizens understand the background of the disinformation that has emerged in recent years, this can reduce anti-Ukrainian sentiment and promote social reconciliation. It is particularly important to monitor changes in the disinformation landscape and to describe new patterns of dissemination.