Visual assessment of CIB in disinformation campaigns

The EU DisinfoLab has authored a report under the EU-funded project veraAI entitled “Visual assessment of Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour in disinformation campaigns”. The report examines three disinformation, manipulation, and interference campaigns: ‘Operation Overload’ (by CheckFirst), ‘A massive Russian influence operation on TikTok’ (by by DFRLab and BBC Verify), and ‘QAnon’s ‘Save the Children’ campaign’ (by multiple stakeholders). Through a structured visual approach, it assesses how these cases align with key indicators of Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour (CIB). To determine whether a campaign exhibits CIB, the report applies a set of 50 CIB indicators based on EU DisinfoLab’s previous work, revisit the Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour Detection Tree. The presence of these indicators is evaluated and quantified to generate a probability score for CIB, ranging from 0 to 100%. Additionally, the findings are visually represented using colour-coded gauges across five key dimensions: Coordination, Authenticity, Source, Impact, and Final Assessment. This approach aims to enhance understanding of CIB tactics and provide the defender community with practical tools to detect and mitigate such activities.