Countering information manipulation

In an era where an increasing amount of critical human activity is conducted online, and ever more massive amounts of data are being generated, malign information and influence operations can disrupt societal stability and cohesion, undermining institutions, democracy and trust. Governments, the private sector and the international community are grappling with identifying, understanding, and countering these threats.

Integrity works across policy and programming globally – and even in the most fragile, conflict-affected, and non-permissive physical and digital environments. We help our clients understand the evolving information threat landscape, measure the results of their policies and interventions, and formulate effective response strategies. We bridge research methods, insights, and implementation, leveraging our suite of complementary and integrated services to support inter-governmental coordination, uncover the strategies that are gaining traction, and develop effective counter measures.

In today’s interconnected and virtual world, misinformation and malign influence operations pose significant challenges for governments globally. Unregulated social media platforms and evolving artificial intelligence (AI) technologies enable hostile actors to produce and spread malign messaging and propaganda unchecked. Such operations threaten democratic integrity, institutional trust, social cohesion, public health, and national security, creating an urgent need for effective counter measures.

Misinformation, often spread unintentionally, can lead to widespread confusion and harmful behaviours, such as vaccine hesitancy or the use of ineffective treatments during the Covid-19 pandemic. Disinformation, on the other hand, is deliberately designed to deceive and manipulate, often crafted by malign actors to disrupt and destabilise political systems and sow discord and social unrest. Tackling these challenges requires a multifaceted approach, including enhanced media literacy, anticipation and effective countering of the proliferation of new information operations, while strengthening cybersecurity.

We are committed to empowering our clients to tackle the challenges posed by malign information influence operations through our suite of services. We provide comprehensive support across policy and programming to help our clients understand the tactics, techniques and procedures of malign information influence operations. Our information manipulation toolkit combines our Research, Evidence and Analysis (REA), Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), Advisory, Communications and Data Analytics services:

• Strategic communications: Our approach includes longitudinal research and evidence, message testing and creative testing. These methods uncover how communications are consumed, interpreted and acted upon, which narratives resonate and why, and the communications strategies and message formats most likely to be effective. Depending on research objectives, we check for message and creative comprehension, credibility, likeability, attribution, and responses among the target audience.
• Threat Analysis: We use a combination of human-led and programming approaches to help our clients understand the information threat landscape. These include media monitoring, automated social media scraping, and machine learning-based approaches to identify Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs). We conduct network analysis to understand key players and audiences and identify emerging actors. Our team of experts analyse findings and identified narratives to capture nuanced trends, including where threats are merging and key motivations.
• Cultural context analysis: Malign information influence operations often seek to destabilise and undermine social cohesion. Countering such operations requires a nuanced cultural understanding to develop effective communication strategies that are authentic, complement lived experiences and resonate with target audiences. We are contextual experts and achieve these insights through participatory and ethnographic techniques that generate rich insight into target audiences’ experiences and perspectives.
• Monitoring and evaluating interventions: We assess the effectiveness of communication strategies, information campaigns, capability building activities, and open-source intelligence to provide assurance, identify areas of learning and recommend adaptations. We provide tailored analysis and practical recommendations to ensure our clients’ efforts are impactful and aligned with their goals.