Public lecture „Beyond disinformation: from problematic content to manipulative behaviour“

On April 22, from 2:15 PM to 3:45 PM, Siim Kumpas, a guest lecturer from the Academy of Internal Security and advisor to the Strategic Communications Division of the European Union External Action Service, will give an English-language public lecture titled ‘Beyond Disinformation: From Problematic Content to Manipulative Behavior’.

The lecture will take place on Zoom. Join here!

Read how Siim Kumpas introduces the lecture:

In a nutshell, I will talk about how we have changed the way we think about the problem at the European External Action Service and more broadly. How we have moved past the fairly narrow concept of „disinformation“ to something we call „foreign information manipulation and interference“. This means that we have shifted our focus from problematic content to manipulative behaviour. Let’s call it a behaviour-first approach, if you will. Based on this, we’ve built a new and much more objective way of monitoring and analysing the information environment. Also, and more importantly, this gives us a much wider array of tools to use (e.g. strategic communication, but also capacity building, awareness raising, media and information literacy legislative instruments, foreign policy instrument) in responding to malign actors engaged in information manipulation activities.

Siim Kumpas serves as the Head of the Policy, Strategy and Global Priority Issues Team within the Strategic Communication Division of the European External Action Service, the European Union’s diplomatic service. Before joining the EEAS, Kumpas worked at the Government Office of Estonia, designing and implementing Estonia’s approach to building resilience to foreign information manipulation. He is also a guest lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, delivering a course on Strategic Communication and Psychological Defence. Kumpas holds a MA degree in Communication Management from the University of Tartu.