UC3M MediaLab concludes a project against disinformation funded by the UN and the EU to combat hate speech in South America

A cross-section of MediaLab members and participants in the juts concluded close-out training for the project

The MediaLab research group of the Department of Communication, UC3M has completed a pioneering project to combat disinformation and hate speech against the foreign population in South America. The initiative, developed over the past 14 months, has been funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Directorate-General for Humanitarian Protection of the European Commission with a total of €180,000. The project adopted a mixed methodology design that included:

• Analysis of content published in the media and social networks using social listening and machine learning tools

• Population surveys

• In-depth interviews

• Training workshops aimed at journalists, academics, as well as staff of NGOs and United Nations agencies

• Social experiments to evaluate the impact of false messages on public perception of the foreign population

  
  

The results obtained will provide a solid guide for future communication strategies aimed at countering disinformation and hate speech on digital platforms circulating about migrant and refugee populations.

This project adds to a series of previous initiatives by the UC3M MediaLab in the field of disinformation and news verification, including two Jean Monnet Chairs, funded by the European Commission, an ongoing national project, and other international projects. Being able to access competitive national and, above all, international projects extends the frontiers of UC3M MediaLab’s influence beyond national borders, making it a key global actor in disinformation and news verification. These efforts have provided significant funding to the UC3M Communications department and have consolidated the UC3M MediaLab as one of the international references in research and teaching on disinformation and news verification. Among others, the UC3M MediaLab is the promoter of one of the first portals on disinformation created in Spain and is the owner of the web domain- disinformation.es.

In this sense, both the funding raised and the success of this initiative reinforce the commitment of the UC3M MediaLab in the fight against disinformation, its commitment to scientific methodologies for the verification of information and its ability to address complex social challenges through research and international collaboration..