SECURITY IN A POST TRUTH WORLD Event Report

The decentralised nature of the platform, as well as the absence of a broadcast function and algorithms to amplify and personalise messages, makes it difficult for malicious actors to weaponize misinformation on a large scale. [...] To mitigate the shortcomings of early indicators and to empirically assess the impact of social media manoeuvres, the BEND framework helps to characterise the intent behind such manoeuvres, the types of manoeuvres involved, the actors involved, their target communities, and their impact on both communities and narratives under 16 distinct categories. [...] To communicate with an audience already convinced about a topic, the goal is to activate them towards the cause; for disengaged, apathetic members of the public, the goal is to convince them; for dismissive individuals, the goal is to change their minds, which often poses the most challenges. [...] It has identified three components of the threat posed by disinformation to national security and society: the identity of the actors spreading disinformation, the environment in which the disinformation had taken hold, and the vulnerabilities of the audience. [...] The UK government devised its RESIST model with the objective of reducing the impact of disinformation campaigns on British society and national interests, by equipping the public with confidence in their own ability to assess the veracity of information themselves.