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Tactics

Disinfo Radar is designed to detect specific tactics used by disinformation actors By leveraging DRI’s extensive experience monitoring social media, it tracks online discussions in near real-time among some 4,000 scholars and professionals, including well-established organisations like EUDisinfoLab, the Atlantic Council and Bellingcat.

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Regional Focus Tracker 

As political events evolve, the global focus of disinformation experts on social media shifts. The Regional Focus Tracker identifies those regions in which disinformation experts are currently most interestedin near real-time.   

Learn more about our methodology
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Topical Focus Tracker 

Novel disinformation tactics often are context-specific and linked to sociopolitical events. The Topical Focus Tracker ranks which topics disinformation experts are discussing on social media at any given moment.

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Our methodology

As a second pillar of analysis, Disinfo Radar seeks to detect the specific strategies and tactics disinformation actors use to create, disseminate and amplify false and misleading information. DRI’s extensive experience with monitoring social media proved a major asset in Disinfo Radar’s design and implementation.

Unlike disinformation tools, which undergo various stages of development and rarely disappear once they have been introduced, disinformation tactics can have significantly shorter lifespans. They are often used only for a short period of time before disinformation actors adapt their strategies. 

By utilising near-real-time monitoring of information, Disinfo Radar considers this aspect of disinformation strategies. Using a complex system of cross-references, DRI has identified what it considers to be an epistemic community of disinformation experts. The community comprises over 4,000 knowledge-based experts, including those working at renowned organisations such as the EUDisinfoLab, the Atlantic Council, Bellingcat, and many others. 

By analysing the daily discourse on social media that emerges in this community of experts, DRI can identify new tactical trends that malicious actors employ. To distil these tactics, Disinfo Radar focuses on a set of markers that can serve as signposts for emerging trends, such as trending topics and the geographical focus of expert discussions.