DE-CONSPIRATOR: Detecting and Countering Information Suppression from A Transnational Perspective

DE-CONSPIRATOR is a Horizon Europe-funded project at the forefront of the battle against sophisticated information suppression tactics known as Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) used by Russia and China within the European Union (EU) and its partner countries (PCs).

The project analyses the strategies and motivations behind FIMI campaigns and monitors their propagation through local networks within the EU and PCs. One of its key objectives is compiling a comprehensive, multilingual database of FIMI incidents, which will serve as a critical tool for understanding and mitigating these tactics and exploring the factors contributing to their effectiveness.

DE-CONSPIRATOR’s innovative methodology involves archival examination and event dataset creation using strategic documents from Russia and China, and analyzing their textual, semantic, and discursive elements. The project will also develop a groundbreaking tool, the ‘Disinfor-meter’, designed to identify the key elements that lead to FIMI’s success. It conducts assessments of current legal and regulatory frameworks at national and international levels to identify shortcomings, underscoring its commitment to bolstering the defences of the EU and its partners against such information threats.

The outcomes of DE-CONSPIRATOR are expected to significantly influence the understanding of how to protect fundamental rights against FIMI, expose the information suppression tactics of authoritarian regimes, and assess the societal impacts of these tactics. Ultimately, the project will formulate practical policy guidelines, tools, and strategies aimed at detecting and countering acts of information suppression within the EU and beyond.

The project brings together a diverse group of leading research institutions and organisations, each contributing unique expertise and resources to developing a better understanding of information suppression by state authorities. White Research is responsible for the dissemination, communication and exploitation activities of the project.