Overview
Disinformation has been a problem for decades. Technological advances facilitate its spread and exacerbate the issue. According to the World Economic Forum, disinformation is one of the three greatest global risks (2025). Despite efforts from the business sector, academia, government organizations, and NGOs, disinformation remains a persistent problem that not only manipulates individual opinions but can also undermine democratic systems.
Disinformation manifests itself in many ways: from the overuse of the term "fake news" to government denial (Binder-Keller, Marianne, 2023; Association of Zurich Enforcement Officers, 2025).
Existing initiatives and research focus on factual misinformation, such as the Google News Initiative's FactCheck Explorer, Mississippi State University's PolitiFact, and various initiatives of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
New forms of disinformation receive little attention. Generative AI enables the rapid creation, modification, and dissemination of disinformation. GenAI therefore accelerates the evolution of disinformation.
Polarisation is a construct that overlaps with disinformation. Polarising content and disinformation can achieve the same goals. Emotionally charged content and extreme positions generate attention. When such content is disseminated, reach is also generated. Attention and reach can be monetized on social networks. Opinions can also be manipulated for personal gain. This influence is exploited by various actors.
Therefore, this project pursues the following objectives:
1) Multi-perspective definition and validation of new forms of disinformation
2) Classification and analysis of the functionality of existing disinformation solutions
3) Development and validation of an evaluation framework to assess the quality of existing disinformation solutions
4) Evaluation of the application potential of polarization detection for disinformation
