RIWI’s web-intercept research methodologies are an essential tool for organizations that seek accurate information ecosystems assessments and effective counter-disinformation programming.
Disinformation, or the deliberate spread of false or manipulated information, is not a new challenge for democratic societies. Its amplification and ease of production, however, are emergent threats. Whether in the form of government propaganda to consolidate political power, tabloids publishing known falsehoods to increase revenue, or sub-national actors seeking to divide communities and consolidate social influence through bigotry or xenophobia, disinformation and propaganda has long served those who choose to employ it. The monetization of disinformation through social media monopolies and ad revenues as well as through the development of emergent technologies that can create false images and videos in seconds however, has significantly lowered the bar for all actors seeking to exploit our digital information space.
Over 60% of the world’s population now has access to the internet, the vast majority of which connect primarily through their mobile devices. While growing access to this rich resource is an important step towards increasing access to information and freedom of expression, it also increases the likelihood that people will be exposed to false or misleading information.
Evidence from a variety of academic studies and experimental treatments reveal that there is not one key driver of disinformation susceptibility. Age, gender, education, economic stability and a sense of belonging have all been identified as potentially contributing factors to belief in false information, as have people’s trust in democratic institutions such as media organizations and the judicial system . Inequality and other socio-economic grievances, whether justified or not, also drive internet users to seek out information and communities that offer easy solutions. In this complex and fast-moving information space, RIWI enables clients to better understand the targets of disinformation, identify the contributing factors that make them susceptible, and scale interventions to reduce these vulnerabilities.
With the increasing loss of key online research instruments such as Twitter’s API access and Meta’s dissolution of their researcher-focused CrowdTangle platform, the availability of real-time data that can accurately assess even one social media platform’s impact on a country’s information space is rapidly shrinking.
RIWI’s web-intercept survey technology with rapid access to anonymous internet users in every country is primed to confront the disinformation challenge. Our methodology captures anonymous and randomized global human sentiment data to assess vulnerable populations, influential narratives, key online and offline sources of information consumption and individual trust in their political institutions. Coupled with our social listening services that monitors for narratives across key social and news media, RIWI’s approach to mis and disinformation assessments allows for comprehensive and privacy-respecting data collection that produce deeper insights beyond traditional surveys and platform-specific datasets. Being fully anonymous, our web-intercept approach reduces social desirability bias and self-censorship even when assessing the sensitive topics that are often exploited through disinformation campaigns such as socio-economic grievances or religious beliefs.
Countries across Eastern Europe and Eurasia have seen increased efforts in recent years by foreign actors, especially Russia, to influence their domestic governance. As the region experiences greater democratic backsliding, the media has become a battleground for would-be autocrats and their opposition. These vulnerabilities can open doors to malign foreign actors to skew narratives and push propaganda in a country’s media, to the detriment of democracy and civil society. With the rise of social media, Internet penetration, and smartphone uptake complicating the picture, development practitioners seeking to counter this through funding in-country programs are often left with little reliable data and poor ground-level information about a country’s media landscape.
To flesh out the citizen component of media resilience, AidData partnered with survey firm RIWI and leveraged their novel Random Domain Intercept Technology to field the survey online, which mixed self-reported questions about behavior and factual questions to provide objective tests. The team fielded a digital survey in ten of the 17 E&E countries that asked 35 questions about respondents’ media literacy. Driving this research was the observation that “If governments and media are captured by foreign actors, the last line of defense are citizens and their ability to identify and reject (or not) disinformation and misinformation.
Between March 28 and April 5, 2022, the Carter Center China Focus engaged RIWI to conduct a survey of Chinese public opinion regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Results demonstrate that 75% of respondents agree that supporting Russia in Ukraine is China’s national interest, and that roughly 60% of respondents support China mediating an end to the conflict. Through this survey, the Carter Center was able to demonstrate that higher education, more consumption of state media, and more consumption of social media are correlated with higher support for Russia. Theyalso examined public opinion with respect to the conspiracy theory that American biolabs were discovered by Russian forces in Ukraine. Among those who have encountered the conspiracy theory, roughly 70% of respondents believe this conspiracy theory is accurate. Somewhat counter-intuitively, higher education and greater exposure to national state media and social media are also associated with higher levels of belief in the conspiracy theory, and that women believe it less, while older people believe it more.
Other disinformation assessment and intervention work recently conducted by RIWI includes assessing the reach of Chinese state-owned media narratives in South Africa and Ethiopia, identifying influential anti-vaccine narratives and susceptibilities conspiratorial beliefs to in Canada, and gauging levels of media literacy to withstand Russian disinformation amongst citizens in 10 Eastern European countries.
To understand the impact of disinformation in the Philippines, RIWI engaged over 19,000 Filipinos from April 9 – May 25, 2020, collecting unique insights that challenged some of the most...
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