The University of Melbourne has launched a ‘Disinformation in the City’ response playbook to address the growing problem of disinformation both locally and across the globe.
Disinformation, or false information, such as “fake news,” is deliberately created to harm or mislead a target audience. Misinformation is false or misleading information that is shared without intent to harm.
Produced by the Melbourne Centre for Cities, together with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and in collaboration with researchers from multiple Australian universities, this playbook has been designed to give local governments around the world the tools to stop disinformation before it starts.
University of Melbourne researcher Ika Trijsburg said current knowledge of disinformation management is focused at national and international levels and doesn’t address urban governance needs.
“Disinformation costs cities money, time and resources, and puts communities at risk. The playbook establishes a new normal for city functioning and for policymaking,” Ms Trijsburg said.
“Disinformation response is good governance. Responsibilities for many of society’s complex challenges, like climate change and community resilience, sit at the local level of governance. Disinformation can impact their ability to deliver on the mandate provided to them by their constituents.”
The team of researchers found that a non-partisan approach is essential to stopping the spread of disinformation, with research showing that disinformation thrives on division. The playbook offers a three-phase strategy to help cities address the problem: pre-emption and early detection; spread prevention and pre-bunking (the process of addressing potentially harmful disinformation before it takes hold); and debunking and recovery.
While disinformation often starts online, it can manifest on city streets. Recent examples include the UK riots where more than 460 people were charged in connection with the violent disorder fuelled by disinformation stemming from far-right, anti-immigration organisers. And locally, an incident in the Victorian town of Bacchus Marsh, where 50 girls from a local high school had artificial intelligence generated deepfakes created of them that were described as extremely graphic.
“Cities are uniquely positioned to respond to the growing challenge of disinformation. Their relative size makes them agile compared to other levels of government. Their proximity to communities gives them awareness of community issues and grievances and makes them capable of comprehensive locally embedded actions,” Ms Trijsburg said.
The playbook also addresses the role that technology and social media plays in cities, noting that technology companies, especially those developing artificial intelligence, are key to the disinformation response.
Using case studies from across Australasia, Europe and North America, the playbook reminds local governments that while there is no single way to address disinformation, building trust in institutions is the best place to start.
