#IMMUNE to opinion manipulation

Background The original aim of the project was to tackle the challenge of fake news and disinformation that is, flooding social media communication channels, in particular and are greatly facilitated by the algorithmic filtering mechanisms of the big platform operators. The project saw the need to make educators aware of the fact that the youngsters that they are working with are subject of widespread manipulation attempts on these channels and that they have to take up the challenge to immunize their youngsters against this. Besides, the project aimed at training educators and trainers themselves about this complex topic that involves many technical details like digital surveillance, personalisation, the “Engagement Rate” and their impact on societal communication and the quality of our democracies. Objectives The project had four main objectives: First, it wanted to create a common reference framework in all three partner countries by describing their specific status quo in this context: How widespread are fake news? Where are they published? Which channels are used? How do youngsters and educators perceive this problem – do they perceive this as a problem at all? Are there companies or other projects working in this field? Second, it wanted to produce training documents for educators that they could use for self-learning. They should put educators in a position to discuss this topic with their youngsters. Third, it wanted to provide educators with a toolbox from which they could choose exercises and teaching formats to be implemented with their youngsters. Fourth, it wanted to offer recommendations for how the project’s materials could be used in the national contexts of the participating countries and how the topic of fake news and disinformation could be put more prominently in the educational agenda. The recommendations also tried to offer a European perspective on this. Implementation The project implemented four planned activities: - One Short-Term-Staff-Training which was an internal training for educators from the participating organisations. - Three Multiplier Events – one in in each participating country – which presented the project, its objectives and a special selection of newly developed exercises. Furthermore, each partner carried out a piloting event with youngsters in which they participated in a special selection of exercises concerning fake news and disinformation. Eventually, the project was disseminated in dozens of training events that were performed by the project partners in other contexts. Achievements The project managed to deliver on all four objectives: First, it produced three Country Studies that review the situation around fake news in the three partner countries Greece, Italy and Germany. Additionally, it provides a comparative European study in which it maps out the similarities and the differences between the three partner countries. Second, it provides a total of six different training documents for educators in which the project outlines the key topics that need to be covered in order to fully understand the severity of the problem of fake news in particular, and the problem of algorithmically filtered content on social media in general. Third, it provides a toolbox with a total of 20 exercises that educators can implement with their youngsters. These are the exercises that the project partners consider as most important in order to grasp the focal points of the subject matter. This list of exercises is not exhaustive and can be extended in the future. Fourth, it produced a recommendations and roadmap report in which the genesis of the project is explained as well as further possible pathways how to deal with topics of fake news and disinformation. All project results are published on immuneproject.eu