RAN C&N Working Group meeting - How to respond to disinformation in public communications from the perspective of frontline practitioners, 27-29 March 2023

Disinformation is a ‘hot topic’, especially around the current Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, anti-systems sentiments and accelerationist narratives. This online RAN Communication and Narratives (C&N) Working Group meeting explored how the (online) street knowledge of first-line practitioners can be used to improve public communications to combat mis- or disinformation.

During the meeting, both experts in strategic communications as well as frontline practitioners with experience in dealing with disinformation in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) work gathered to discuss this topic. The meeting was structured in a way that allowed to zoom in from the strategic level to a more hands-on, practitioner-focused perspective on the topic at hand. Participants identified four overarching themes regarding the role of practitioners in dealing with disinformation based on examples from their own work. These four themes were discussed in depth to formulate do’s and don’ts for dealing with disinformation by P/CVE practitioners as well as debunking and fact-checking organisations. The list of do’s and don’ts contains, among others, the following:

• Monitoring of narratives is important, so the practitioners in the field are aware of what is going on in disinformation when speaking to clients.
• When dealing with disinformation, pick your battles. Prioritise extremist content and focus on the main P/CVE objectives.
• Don’t securitise democratic processes like protests by labelling activists as ‘extremists’, and unnecessarily engaging them from a P/CVE perspective.
• Offer alternatives, be open to debate.
• Work with ‘ambassadors’ to reach specific target groups. These should be trusted people within target groups, like influencers and role models.