Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) disinformation is intentionally misleading and deceptive information about CBRN threats, that can potentially cause serious political, financial, and physical harm to governments, international organizations, the scientific community, academia, industry, and the population at large. In January 2023, the United Nations Inter-Regional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) released its “Handbook to Combat CBRN Disinformation” which draws attention to the role that non-state actors, including terrorists, violent extremists, and organised criminal groups can play in amplifying the spread of disinformation, especially on social media. The Handbook is divided into two sections. The first part offers an analysis of the problem by describing the strategic objectives of CBRN disinformation and the techniques used to manipulate audiences on social media. The second part identifies and describes techniques to effectively demonstrate the falseness of an idea, story, or theory. It also provides practical advice on how to analyse a situation in which an individual or an organization has been exposed to disinformation and how to decide whether to respond to a false allegation.
The full text of the Handbook is available here.
Source: UNICRI
Image: Pixabay
