24.2.2022
Official Journal of the European Union
EN
L 45/1457 COMMISSION PILOT PROJECTS
CHAPTER PP 07 — INVESTING IN PEOPLE, SOCIAL COHESION AND VALUES (cont'd) PP 07 21
(cont'd)
PP 07 21 02
(cont'd) Research shows that Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other influential social media provide a crucial boost for the international network of disinformation (Smith and Graham 2019).
Feeding on fear and chaos, spreading fake news and misinterpreting the data, these agents are stronger than ever (Fernández-Luque and Bau 2015).
However, social media provide not only a new set of tools for spreading disinformation but also a great weapon against it.
Recent research demonstrates the important role of narratives in framing facts and information in a package that can be easily transmitted across society and how studying narratives can be the key to better understanding how ideas spread across social media and why certain ideas take hold over others.
The use of this methodology in understanding the flow of information during the COVID-19 outbreak could be vital in finding a different way to inform society and to keep disinformation and misinformation at bay.
The pilot project will create a European Observatory on Narrative Distribution to monitor and analyse how new narratives are created and spread within European public discourse, decipher the emotional values that guide successful narratives, map sources and key actors active in the spreading of these narratives and develop recommendations for effective communication and policy.
Building on the work developed for the Commission-funded study on ‘Mechanisms that Shape Social Media and their Impact on Society’ the project developed by Re-Imagine Europa and the Center for Systemic Risk Research at the University of Warsaw, the Observatory would identify the dominant narratives by combining Natural Language Processing and more traditional methods of qualitative narratology.
Using advanced algorithms and analysing the most qualitatively representative examples, it would establish dominant narrative patterns and answer questions such as: ‘How is the ongoing crisis influencing the dominant models, metaphors and narratives shaping our perception of identity and community?’, ‘Are European values at risk in an increasing polarised and weaponised information ecosystem?’, ‘How are external actors manipulating European public discourse to sow discord and fracture society?’, ‘What are the values and narratives that unite and separate us?’ and ‘How are our different value systems and experiences shaping the development of a European identity?’
Remembering the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein: ‘the world we see is defined and given meaning by the words we choose.
In short, the world is what we make of it.’
The Observatory would be coordinating with existing European projects and infrastructures including the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and SoBigData++ to ensure that there is no duplication of effort and that resources are used to support the investigative and research work and make use of the infrastructures and technical support available.
The project would support action at national and multi-national level focussed on detecting and analysing disinformation campaigns linked to COVID-19.
The results of the pilot project would be made available to other European and national projects and ensure sharing of best practices and recommendations for effective communication.
PP 07 21 04
Pilot project — Study on loneliness, focus on mental health
Figures (Differentiated appropriations) Appropriations 2022 Commitments
p.m.
Appropriations 2021
Payments
350 000
Commitments
1 000 000
Outturn 2020
Payments
250 000
Commitments
Payments