IM Cultural Institute

Tag: Disinformation

  • Effectiveness of Training Actions Aimed at Improving Critical Thinking in the Face of Mis- and Disinformation: A Systematic Review

    Effectiveness of Training Actions Aimed at Improving Critical Thinking in the Face of Mis- and Disinformation: A Systematic Review

    The effectiveness of training interventions aimed at improving critical thinking to counter mis- and disinformation is the focus of this systematic review. While critical thinking is widely recognized as a crucial aspect, the authors state that more evidence is needed to identify which approaches are most effective.

    Following PRISMA guidelines and a pre-registered protocol, the authors searched 12 databases and identified 8,041 articles. After screening and peer review, 17 studies were included. Most used true or quasi-experimental designs with moderate risk of bias and focused on media and information literacy through active learning approaches that included CT as part of the instruction.

    Research results indicate an overall improvement in participants’ critical thinking, although not all interventions explicitly targeted or measured this competence. In the end, only seven studies fully met the eligibility criteria, and the heterogeneity of results limited firm conclusions about overall effectiveness.

    The authors conclude by highlighting key elements for successful interventions, like active learning, diverse resources, and the explicit integration of critical thinking as a core objective within robust research designs.

    Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-06143-6

    Reference

    Marcos-Vílchez, J. M., Muñiz-Velázquez, J. A., Arraztio-Cordoba, A., & Sánchez-Martín, M. (2026). Effectiveness of training actions aimed at improving critical thinking in the face of mis- and disinformation: A systematic review. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 13(1)

  • The Potential for Media Literacy to Combat Misinformation: Results of a Rapid Evidence Assessment

    The Potential for Media Literacy to Combat Misinformation: Results of a Rapid Evidence Assessment

    This recent review article explores the potential of media literacy as a response to the growing challenge of misinformation, an issue that has attracted increasing attention from academics, policymakers, and social media platforms. It focuses on assessing the effectiveness of media literacy strategies designed to help individuals better engage with and evaluate misleading content.

    The authors used a rapid evidence assessment of research published between 2011 and 2021, examining studies at the intersection of media literacy and misinformation.

    Results show that certain types of media literacy interventions are effective, particularly those that encourage conscious, rational engagement with content and support the development of critical thinking skills. However, the effects of these interventions vary over time, reflecting the complexity and evolving nature of media and information environments.

    Learn more about this review here: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/23549/5009

    Reference

    Anstead, Nick et al, “The Potential for Media Literacy to Combat Misinformation: Results of a Rapid Evidence Assessment”, International Journal of Communication19(2025), 2129–2151

  • Large Language Models can Consistently Generate High-Quality Content for Election Disinformation Operations

    Large Language Models can Consistently Generate High-Quality Content for Election Disinformation Operations

    According to the authors of this study, advances in large language models have raised concerns about their potential use in generating compelling election disinformation at scale. In evidence of this, a two-part investigation into the capabilities of LLMs to automate stages of an election disinformation operation is presented.

    First, DisElect is introduced, a new evaluation dataset designed to measure LLM compliance with malicious prompts related to election disinformation in a localized UK context. The dataset includes 2,200 malicious and 50 benign prompts and was used to test 13 LLMs. Second, the “humanness” of LLM-generated disinformation was assessed, through a series of experiments (N = 2,340).

    The results show that most models comply with disinformation requests, while those that refuse malicious prompts also tend to refuse benign election-related prompts and are more likely to reject content from a right-wing perspective.

    On the second subject, findings indicate that most models released since 2022 produce disinformation content that is indistinguishable from human-written text more than half of the time, with some models exceeding human levels of perceived authenticity.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317421

    Reference

    Williams, A. R., Burke-Moore, L., Chan, R. S., Enock, F. E., Nanni, F., Sippy, T., Chung, Y. L., Gabasova, E., Hackenburg, K., & Bright, J. (2025). Large language models can consistently generate high-quality content for election disinformation operations. PloS one, 20(3), e0317421

  • AI to Counteract Hate Speech

    AI to Counteract Hate Speech

    Proposal: Using AI Tools to Counteract Hate Speech and Hate Crimes

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI – Promote civil society organisations’ awareness of, capacity building and implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

    Topic: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI-SPEECH

    Type of Action: CERV-PJG – CERV Project Grants

    Proposed Budget: 610 244,50€

    Keywords: hate speech, disinformation, counteracting, protecting european values

    Objective: Given the growing scale of hate speech in public spaces, especially online, this project aims to comprehensively examine the phenomenon of hate speech in various socio-cultural contexts and develop a tool using generative artificial intelligence to identify and report hate speech in each language. The project focuses on the analysis of hate speech, development of innovative technological solutions, as well as social education in the field of recognizing and counteracting hate speech. The aim of the project is to strengthen the protection of EU values by providing an effective tool supporting the fight against hate speech, which will enable citizens to report cases of hate to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

    Partners:

    • Instytut Dyskursu I Dialogu
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Grupa Tipmedia Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia
    • Fondatsiya Savremenna Plevenska Mediya
    • Fundación Centro De Estudos Eurorrexiónais Galicia Norte De Portugal
    • Asociacion Consortium Local-Global Coglobal
    • Action For The Civil Society
    • Interaktion – Verein Für Ein Interkulturelles Zusammenleben
  • News Literacy and Online News Between Egyptian and Spanish Youth: Fake News, Hate Speech and Trust in the Media

    News Literacy and Online News Between Egyptian and Spanish Youth: Fake News, Hate Speech and Trust in the Media

    An exploratory study reflects on whether citizens can be considered “responsible” in their online news behavior when exposed to harmful content, fake news, and hate speech.

    It aims to position news literacy as a mediating factor in fostering civic responsibility by investigating its role in improving young people’s online news experiences and preparing them to deal with harmful content.

    News literacy is conceptualized as a multi-structural construct composed of motivation, knowledge, and skills. Using a mixed-methods approach, focus group discussions and survey data were combined to examine youths’ online news experiences and assess their levels of news literacy. Youth samples from Egypt and Spain were the empirical basis of the research, allowing for a comparative analysis.

    Results reveal a positive correlation between news literacy and the ability to identify fake news and hate speech, higher engagement with news, greater concern for content accuracy before sharing, and stronger motivation to seek news.

    At the same time, respondents from both countries expressed negative perceptions of professional news media, citing concerns that news organizations are not adequately fulfilling their role as it should be.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.3916/C74-2023-06

    Reference

    Samy-Tayie, S., Tejedor, S., & Pulido, C. (2023). News literacy and online news between Egyptian and Spanish youth: Fake news, hate speech and trust in the media. Comunicar, 30(74), 69–81

  • Combating, Countering Disinformation

    Combating, Countering Disinformation

    Proposal: Combating, countering disinformation and other forms of interference in the democracy

    Implementation: 2024 to 2026

    Call: CERV-2023-CITIZENS-CIV – Citizens’ engagement and participation – 2023

    Topic: CERV-2023-CITIZENS-CIV

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 203 365,00€

    Keywords: Countering disinformation and other forms of interference in the democracy, Promoting democratic participation through debating the future of Europe, Other priority in line with the call objective to promote citizens engagement, Media literacy, Democracy, Inclusion, Europe in a changing world, Civil society, Vulnerable groups, Human rights, Cross-sector cooperation, Citizen engagement

    Objective: The EU recognizes the vital role of enhancing media literacy to combat disinformation, safeguard democratic values, and empower citizens to discern credible sources from false ones, with various policies and initiatives implemented in Member States in recent years. Nonetheless, the heart of media literacy approaches lies in devising inclusive communication strategies while concurrently safeguarding the tenets of freedom of speech. Seeking a delicate balance between fighting disinformation and preserving the fundamental rights of all citizens, including vulnerable groups, to express their views and opinions is our major challenge when it comes to counter disinformation and other malign influences. 

    This project intends to intervene in this sphere to empower European communities, promoting inclusive educational strategies that target and engage vulnerable and diverse age groups, reducing the risk of disinformation targeting marginalized populations. The activities are based on tailored approaches, digital educational tools, lifelong learning and cross-sectoral cooperation, and will focus on engaging citizens, especially the most vulnerable, in order to create a more informed and resilient society, safeguarding democratic values and ensuring that all citizens can actively participate in the digital era safeguarding their rights. 

    Partners:

    • Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani Comitato Italia
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Fondatsia Za Predpriemachestvo, Kultura I Obrazovanie
    • Medardo Coboto Treciojo Amziaus Universitetas
    • Asociación De Emisoras Municipales Y Comunitaria
    • Idryma Ergodotisis Ekpedefsis Neoleas (IEEN)
    • Tasc Europe Studies
    • Lab Futura
  • Media Literacy in Social Media

    Media Literacy in Social Media

    Proposal: The project aims at introducing young people and youth workers to the media’s operation.

    Implementation: 2024 to 2026

    Call: Erasmus+ Programme

    Topic: Call 2023

    Type of Action: Small-scale partnerships in youth (KA210-YOU)

    Proposed Budget: 60 000,00€

    Keywords: Media literacy and tackling disinformation, Digital safety and data protection, Inclusion, promoting equality and non-discrimination

    Objective: The project aims at introducing young people and youth workers to the media’s operation in general and, in particular, the transfer of media strategies into the social media universe. In the context of digital expression, where freedom of posting, sharing facts and opinions that become reliable sources of information, is ubiquitous, developing media literacy has become an imperative to navigating social media. 

    Propaganda, disinformation, and misinformation are forms of distributing and manipulating information, hard to recognize in a lack of education. Moreover, understanding media construction, from the writer’s intention to the reader’s own investment in the message, is essential in everyday media consumption. By training young people to access, analyse, evaluate, create, and act within media and social media, the project links with the Addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity priority.

    96% of young people aged 16-29 years in the EU use the internet every day, compared with 84% of the adult population. (Eurostat, 2023)

    When 60% of worldwide young users aged 18-24 years use social media as a source of news and finding information is the primary reason why they use the internet (58.6% for 16 to 24 years old), the focus is to work with youth. (Kemp, 2023) 

    On the other hand, with two-thirds of children and young people aged 25 years or less not having internet access at home, the attention is drawn to vulnerable groups. (UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union, 2020).

    In this way, the Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sports priority is addressed. 

    Obj1: To build the media literacy of young people and youth workers, and improve competences like critical thinking, problem-solving, the capacity to find, select, access, decode, and interpret information and knowledge on the internet, the readiness to respond pragmatically and intuitively to challenges and opportunities in a manner that exploits the internet’s potential.

    Obj2: To ENGAGE, CONNECT and EMPOWER young people to take charge of their lives and face challenges such as fake news and propaganda. With one face-to-face training event, an online crash course, and workshops, the project offers learning opportunities, motivates the participants to take action and helps them to prepare for active participation in the online scenario.

    Obj3: To network, share good practices, and build capacity within and beyond the local level of each partner organization, enabling transformation and change, leading to improvements, in proportion to the context of each organization. By cooperating transnationally the partner organizations will increase their capacity to operate at the international level, enrich educational resources and non-formal methods to better target vulnerable groups who face social, economic, or geographic obstacles, and prioritize digital inclusion in local activities.

    Partners:

    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani-Comitato Italiano Helsinki Ente Del Terzo Settore
    • Autonómia Alapítvány
  • Media and Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: A Systematic Review

    Media and Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: A Systematic Review

    In a context marked by the spread of misinformation and the growing influence of media—particularly social media—on certain social groups, the authors highlight the need to analyze how media and information literacy in the formation of citizens contributes to the development of critical thinking.

    This effort is based on a systematic review of scientific literature addressing the intersection of critical thinking and media and information literacy. Using the Core Collection of the Web of Science and Scopus databases, the authors analyzed a sample of 65 articles selected through predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria.

    It was concluded that integrating media and information literacy into educational contexts contributes to strengthening individuals’ critical abilities, supporting the development of more informed and critically engaged citizens.

    Learn more about this review here: https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1939

    Reference

    López-González, H., Sosa, L., Sánchez, L. y Faure-Carvallo, A. (2023). Media and Information
    Literacy and Critical Thinking: A Systematic Review. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 81,
    399-423