Esta investigación tiene como tema central identificar los mecanismos y recursos que el periodismo digital de investigación realiza como mecanismo de investigación ante la difusión de las Fake News. Se decidió abordar los recursos y mecanismos que el periodismo de investigación digital ejecuta frente a la difusión de noticias falsas durante la pandemia de la COVID19, teniendo en cuenta el manejo de las cifras de muertes por IDL Reporteros, Convoca y Ojo Público. Este trabajo busca identificar los criterios y referentes que el periodismo digital de investigación utiliza. Para esto se realizó una metodología cualitativa y se optó por elegir un corpus representativo de tres reportajes de los espacios periodísticos mencionados anteriormente. Asimismo, se diseñó un instrumento de análisis a partir de cuatro subcategorías que nos permitió identificar los mecanismos de investigación digital y la forma correcta de uso. Una vez finalizada la investigación, se llegó a la conclusión de que sí existe una relación entre las fake news y el periodismo digital de investigación, ya que los mecanismos de investigación que se usaron para evitar las noticias falsas en los reportajes mostrados sí fueron eficaces. Asimismo, se puso en evidencia que aunque el avance tecnológico haya favorecido notablemente a los medios de comunicación, si la búsqueda de información no es trabajada con responsabilidad podría causar desinformación que perjudique a la sociedad. / The main theme of this investigation is to identify the mencanimes and resources that digital investigative journalism performs as an investigative mechanism before the dissemination of Fake News. It was decided to address the resources and mechanisms that digital investigative journalism executes against the dissemination of false news during the COVID19 pandemic, taking into account This work seeks to identify the criteria and references that investigative digital journalism uses. For this, a qualitative methodology was carried out and it was decided to choose a representative corpus of three reports from the journalistic spaces mentioned above. Likewise, an analysis instrument was designed based on four subcategories that allowed us to identify digital research mechanisms and the correct way of use. Once the investigation was completed, it was concluded that there is a relationship between fake news and digital investigative journalism, since the investigative mechanisms that were used to prevent false news in the reports shown were effective. Likewise, it was made clear that although technological progress has notably favored the media, if the search for information is not handled responsibly, it could cause misinformation that harms society. / Trabajo de investigación

Embedding itself in the larger discussion on protests against measures taken by governments all over the world to mitigate the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, this work concerns itself with the role of the Holocaust in narratives found in prominent Telegram channels and chat groups of German covid-protests. Building on the existing body of research, it uses the theoretical framework of New Social Movement (NSM) theory to categorise the protests in Germany. Choosing a mixed-methods design, the phenomenon is described using narrative analysis, computer-assisted coding, and elements of network analysis. The narrative analysis and results of computer-assisted coding, find that the Holocaust is narrated as a valid comparison to pandemic politics, while some Telegram channels engage in historical revisionism. The network analysis reveals a large network of Telegram channels, strengthening the importance of the analysed channels for the protests in Germany

El objetivo principal de la presente investigación es identificar los mecanismos y recursos que el periodismo digital de investigación utiliza para frenar la difusión de las fake news. Para ello se analizan seis reportajes publicados en los portales de Ojo Público, IDL Reporteros y Convoca y entre el 11 de diciembre de 2020 y el 6 de marzo de 2021, todos ellos relacionados con la cobertura del proceso de vacunación contra la COVID-19 desarrollado en el Perú. Para el análisis de la muestra se diseñó un instrumento que permitió identificar los mecanismos de investigación digital utilizados y priorizados, así como la forma en la que fueron usados. La investigación concluye que los medios digitales Ojo Público, IDL Reporteros y Convoca utilizaron recursos y mecanismos de verificación durante el proceso de vacunación contra la COVID-19 en Perú en el período del 11 de diciembre de 2020 al 6 de marzo de 2021 para contrarrestar las fake news de manera diferenciada: Ojo Público utilizó con más frecuencia las fuentes especializadas, IDL Reporteros priorizó el empleo de bases de datos y Convoca aprovechó en mejor medida los recursos digitales en los reportajes analizados. / The main objective of this research is to identify mechanisms and resources that investigative digital journalism uses to stop the spread of fake news. To do this, six reports published on Ojo Público, IDL Reporteros and Convoca and portals between December 11, 2020 and March 6, 2021 are analyzed, all of them related to the coverage of vaccination process against COVID-19 developed in Peru. For the analysis of the corpus, an instrument was designed that made it possible to identify digital research mechanisms used and prioritized, as well as the way in which they were used. The investigation concludes that Ojo Público, IDL Reporteros and Convoca used resources and verification mechanisms during the coverage of vaccination process against COVID-19 in Peru from December 11, 2020 to March 6, 2021 to counter fake news in differentiated ways: Ojo Público used specialized sources more frequently, IDL Reporteros prioritized use of databases and Convoca made better use of digital resources in the analyzed reports. / Tesis

Digitaliseringens ständiga utveckling inom samhället och verksamheter har lett till nya fenomen och förutsättningar vilket har medfört nya utmaningar. Desinformation är ett avdessa begrepp som har fått allt större betydelse inom det digitala samhället som finns idag. Begreppet som har uppmärksammats alltmer syftar till missvisande, felaktig och falskutformad information. Desinformation blir allt vanligare och det problemområde som identifierats är hur verksamheter hanterar existensen av desinformation. Därmed strävade studien mot att svara på frågeställningen: Vilka tillvägagångssätt har verksamheter för att hantera desinformation i sin användning av digital teknik? Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ forsknings- och metodansats som syftar till att skapa förståelse kring begreppet desinformation, dess bakomliggande faktorer samt vilka tillvägagångssätt verksamheter använder sig av samt hanteringen av begreppet för att minska risken av dess konsekvenser. Datainsamling genomfördes genom en intervjustudie med sju verksamheter samt fem stycken fokusgruppsintervjuer. Resultatet från datainsamlingen påvisade att det finns en bred definition kring betydelsen av desinformation samt att det inom verksamheterna inte finns någon uttalad strategi eller tillvägagångssätt för att hantera desinformation. Det upplevdes finnas tillräckligt med stort förtroende för medarbetarnas egna ansvar i att agera källkritiskt. Befintlig litteratur identifierar att det finns svårigheter kring att upptäcka om informationen är sann eller inte men även att den mänskliga faktorn har betydelse för bedömningen av informationen. Även individens tidigare erfarenheter har betydelse. Det som däremot framkom som studiens slutsats var att följande faktorer var en del av verksamhetens tillvägagångssätt för att avgöra trovärdigheten i information: arbeta med kända aktörer och källor, agera källkritiskt, avgränsa hur intern information hanteras inom verksamheten och bedöma utseende av informationen såsom grammatik och språkbruk. / The digitalization’s constant development in society and in businesses has led to new phenomena and concepts that have not previously existed, which have caused problems. Misinformation is a new concept that has gotten a greater meaning with the digital society that exists today. Misinformation has received increasing attention and refers to misleading, incorrect and falsely designed information. The problem area that is identified is how companies handle the existence of misinformation. The purpose of the study was to answer the research question: What approaches do businesses apply to handle misinformation in their use of digital technology? The study was conducted with a qualitative research and method approach that aims to create an understanding of the concept of misinformation, its underlying factors and what approaches business use when dealing with misinformation to reduce the risk of its consequences. Data collection was conducted through an interview study with seven businesses and five focus group interviews. The results from the data collection showed that there is a broad definition of misinformation and that there is no stated strategy or approach within the operations to deal with misinformation. It was identified that there was enough confidence in the employee's own responsibility in acting source critical. Existing literature identifies that there are difficulties in discovering whether the information is true or not. The human factor has meaning and whether the information is in line with the individual’s opinions. The study's conclusion was that the following factors were a part of the business's approach to determining credibility in information: working with well-known sources, acting with source criticism, defining how information is handled within the business and assessing the appearance of the information such as grammar and language usage.

Comparative case study consists of 12 chapters and is composed as qualitative research. The main goal of the study is to research the fake news used in chosen set of data, consisting of 13 television debates. The case study works with two cases - the presidential election in the Czech Republic (2018) and in Slovakia (2019). First part of the analysis deals with methodology and theoretical background for fake news and role of television debates in election campaign. Next part is dedicated to the analyzed cases of elections, briefly covering the development of the election campaign followed by analysis. The results of the analysis are summed up in the independent chapter. As the most used fake news themes in given debates the analysis identifies following: migration, negative attitude towards media, questionable funding of the campaign and attempts to influence the elections. The main difference in the cases is the nature of the competition, when the acting president is running for re-election. Keywords: Fake news, desinformation, president, elections, campaign, television debate, Miloš Zeman, Jiří Drahoš, Zuzana Čaputová, Maroš Šefčovič

Denna studie undersöker hur desinformationskampanjen mot socialtjänsten har påverkat socialsekreterares arbete, framför allt i möten med klienter. Empiriskt material har samlats in genom sju semistrukturerade intervjuer med yrkesverksamma socialsekreterare inom området barn och unga. Intervjumaterialet analyserades därefter genom en tematisk analys. Utifrån den tematiska analysen kunde fyra huvudteman urskiljas, vilka innefattar socialtjänstens arbetssätt, bemötande av klienter, förtroende gentemot socialtjänsten samt desinformationskampanjens spridning och möjliga åtgärder. Studien visar på att socialsekreterare upplever att desinformationskampanjens påverkan på deras arbete inte är helt tydlig, men att de har vissa erfarenheter från klientmöten som tros kunna kopplas till desinformationskampanjen. Studien belyser även att det finns ett bristande förtroende för socialtjänsten bland klienter samt en redan existerande negativ syn på myndigheten. Desinformationskampanjen tros bidra till denna negativa uppfattning ytterligare. Studien visar på att klienters förtroende för socialtjänsten är av vikt för att socialsekreterarna ska kunna genomföra sina utredningsarbeten. Därmed behöver åtgärder för att motverka spridningen av desinformation samt förtroendeskapande insatser implementeras. Studien visar att socialsekreterarna, genom klientmöten, kan bemöta fördomar och okunskap om socialtjänsten på individnivå. Dock krävs även insatser på högre nivåer för att kunna åstadkomma en allomfattande inverkan på allmänhetens inställning till socialtjänsten. / This study examines how the disinformation campaign aimed towards social services in Sweden has affected the work of social workers, specifically in regards to meetings with service-users. The empirical data has been collected through seven semi-structured interviews with professional social workers who operate within the Swedish child-welfare system. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis. From the thematic analysis four main themes could be identified, which include how social services operate, meetings with service-users, trust towards social services and the spread of the disinformation campaign and possible measures. The study shows that the social workers rarely have experienced any particular effects in their work that could be directly tied to the disinformation campaign. However, they shed light on some instances in meetings with service-users that could potentially be connected to the disinformation campaign. The study also highlights that distrust among service-users towards social services exists and that an already-existing negative perception of social services prevails. The spread of the disinformation campaign is believed to further contribute to this poor perception. The study shows that trust among service-users towards social services is of high importance in order for social workers to be able to execute their tasks. Thus, measures towards counteracting the spread of desinformation as well as measures towards creating trust must be implemented. The study highlights that social workers, through one-on-one meetings with service-users, have the ability to directly respond to prejudice and lack of knowledge in regards to social services among service-users. However, measures on larger scales must also be implemented in order to achieve a comprehensive impact on the public’s perception of social services.

Les médias sociaux sont désormais des outils de communication incontournables, notamment lors de campagnes électorales. La prévalence de l’utilisation de plateformes de communication en ligne suscite néanmoins des inquiétudes au sein des démocraties occidentales quant aux risques de manipulation des électeurs, notamment par le biais de robots sociaux. Les robots sociaux sont des comptes automatisés qui peuvent être utilisés pour produire ou amplifier le contenu en ligne tout en se faisant passer pour de réels utilisateurs. Certaines études, principalement axées sur le cas des États-Unis, ont analysé la propagation de contenus de désinformation par les robots sociaux en période électorale, alors que d’autres ont également examiné le rôle de l’affiliation partisane sur les comportements et les tactiques favorisées par les robots sociaux. Toutefois, la question à savoir si l'orientation partisane des robots sociaux a un impact sur la quantité de désinformation politique qu’ils propagent demeure sans réponse. Par conséquent, l’objectif principal de ce travail de recherche est de déterminer si des différences partisanes peuvent être observées dans (i) le nombre de robots sociaux actifs pendant la campagne électorale canadienne de 2021, (ii) leurs interactions avec les comptes réels, et (iii) la quantité de contenu de désinformation qu’ils ont propagé. Afin d’atteindre cet objectif de recherche, ce mémoire de maîtrise s’appuie sur un ensemble de données Twitter de plus de 11,3 millions de tweets en anglais provenant d’environ 1,1 million d'utilisateurs distincts, ainsi que sur divers modèles pour distinguer les comptes de robots sociaux des comptes humains, déterminer l’orientation partisane des utilisateurs et détecter le contenu de désinformation politique véhiculé. Les résultats de ces méthodes distinctes indiquent des différences limitées dans le comportement des robots sociaux lors des dernières élections fédérales. Il a tout de même été possible d'observer que les robots sociaux de tendance conservatrice étaient plus nombreux que leurs homologues de tendance libérale, mais que les robots sociaux d’orientation libérale étaient ceux qui ont interagi le plus avec les comptes authentiques par le biais de retweets et de réponses directes, et qui ont propagé le plus de contenu de désinformation. / Social media have now become essential communication tools, including within the context of electoral campaigns. However, the prevalence of online communication platforms has raised concerns in Western democracies about the risks of voter manipulation, particularly through social bot accounts. Social bots are automated computer algorithms which can be used to produce or amplify online content while posing as authentic users. Some studies, mostly focused on the case of the United States, analyzed the propagation of disinformation content by social bots during electoral periods, while others have also examined the role of partisanship on social bots’ behaviors and activities. However, the question of whether social bots’ partisan-leaning impacts the amount of political disinformation content they generate online remains unanswered. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to determine whether partisan differences could be observed in (i) the number of active social bots during the 2021 Canadian election campaign, (ii) their interactions with humans, and (iii) the amount of disinformation content they propagated. In order to reach this research objective, this master’s thesis relies on an original Twitter dataset of more than 11.3 million English tweets from roughly 1.1 million distinct users, as well as diverse models to distinguish between social bot and human accounts, determine the partisan-leaning of users, and detect political disinformation content. Based on these distinct methods, the results indicate limited differences in the behavior of social bots in the 2021 federal election. It was however possible to observe that conservative-leaning social bots were more numerous than their liberal-leaning counterparts, but liberal-leaning accounts were those who interacted more with authentic accounts through retweets and replies and shared the most disinformation content.

This paper examines Russian broadcast media's disinformation strategies after the Ukraine invasion in 2022. In the past decade, Russian disinformation has been recognized by scholars and policymakers as a danger to European security and order. And it has made it harder for Europeans to access reliable and factual information. However, much research thus far has been conducted when the war in Ukraine was different in proportion, and where disinformation functioned as the foundation for small-scale military action. Now that the war has evolved, disinformation strategies have evolved with it.  In this paper, I applied Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to twenty articles from three internationally oriented Russian broadcasters: RT, Sputnik, and TASS. This revealed two major themes in disinformation narratives: positive Self-representation and negative Other-representation. I demonstrate in this research that Russian disinformation is no longer used to hide Russia’s direct involvement in Ukraine, but that it is used to present justifications for the invasion and further military actions.  Moreover, the research illustrates that the relationship between information warfare and conventional warfare is symbiotic and that contemporary disinformation strategies have been adjusted so that they can benefit from the current circumstances in Ukraine. Ultimately, in this research, I determine that Russian disinformation strategies have evolved since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and are now altered to align with the Kremlin’s aggressive military tactics.

Conspiracy Theories and Politics in Slovakia: How Conspiracy Thinking Relates to Political Opinions and Preferences Katarína Kondrótová Abstract (English) Conspiracy theories have become a fashionable buzzword, appearing across the internet, the media, and political speeches with great frequency. However, there are many misconceptions associated with them, making them more divisive and mysterious than they need to be. The present contribution seeks to remedy that by providing a deep dive into conspiracy theories. It examines the multitude of their possible definitions and conceptualizations, their existence across history, as well as past research findings about why they appeal to us. In the second half, conspiracy theories are presented through new research regarding their relation to political and ideological preferences of Slovaks. The findings are in line with past studies, showing a relationship between stronger conspiracy beliefs and extremist thinking, preference of authoritarian policies, and low faith in authorities. A regression analysis also uncovered a strong correlation between conspiracy beliefs and the political party the respondents had voted for, as well as their preference of the politics and ideologies of 'the West' (EU, USA) or 'the East' (Russian federation).

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