Lessons Learned: Working with policy partners to analyse disinformation in the Russian media
Researchers have analysed multi-modal information sources to understand, and help counter, Russian disinformation in the post-COVID world.
In the post-COVID world, disinformation broadcast through the Russian- and English-speaking media is a significant threat. Understanding the extent, nature, and impact of such disinformation is vital to global defence and security.
Our research spans the disciplines of linguistics, computer science, and area studies, and uses human and machine learning techniques to examine Russian media outputs and audience comments. By analysing multi-modal information sources (such as video and audio as well as text), we can use not only what is said, but how it is said, including speech, gesture, and corporal movement to identify and measure disinformation and gauge public reaction to it.
Understanding the extent, nature, and impact of such disinformation is vital to global defence and security.
Support from Research England’s Strategic Priorities Fund allowed us to deepen our work with the UK government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to analyse Russian-sponsored domestic and international media content and disseminate the findings. This project was conducted in 2021, and results were shared through written reports, face-to-face meetings, and weekly research and knowledge exchange seminars hosted by the International Multimodal Communications Centre (IMCC).
Working so closely with Dstl—which provides information and analysis to the UK Ministry of Defence—was an extremely positive learning experience. It allowed our research teams to understand the evidence needs of a major policy partner and focus our analysis on what was of most strategic value to them (such as the articulation of future threats).
We believe that our analysis will allow policymakers to better understand how Russia is manipulating public opinion in the English and Russian-speaking worlds—enabling them to address disinformation more quickly and effectively.
The collaboration also helped us to shape our own research agenda and fostered dialogue with other government departments and policy partners connected to Dstl, further extending the reach of our research. We discussed what the government sees as important goals and questions and what researchers in academia see as important goals and research questions. That allowed us to come up with a list of policy-driven research questions which are of interest and relevance to both parties. Our successful pilot projects formed the basis for several major funding grants and has laid the foundations for further policy collaborations. As a result of this pilot we completed a systematic literature review on multimodal analysis of disinformation and misinformation. In addition, an ongoing seminar series with IMCC brings together academics and practitioners across social and computational sciences. Some of the talks are made public on a dedicated YouTube channel.
We believe that our analysis will allow policymakers to better understand how Russia is manipulating public opinion in the English and Russian-speaking worlds—enabling them to address disinformation more quickly and effectively.
Anna Wilson, REES Head of Language Studies and Teaching Fellow at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and Director of the International Multimodal Communications Centre (IMCC) and member of the Oxford Policy Engagement Network.
Scott A. Hale Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, IMCC Co-Director, and member of the Oxford Policy Engagement Network.