ITALIAN NARRATIONS ON THE EUROPEAN UNION: ANALYSING THE DIGITAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT AND DISINFORMATION ACTIVITIES

2019 – What were the basic narratives about the European Union in the Italian digital information environment during 2019? Which were the most prone to abnormal activity? At the beginning of 2020 the Italian Delegation of the European Commission entrusted us with an analysis of the Italian online information ecosystem in 2019, with the aim of identifying abnormal communication dynamics and disinformation activities related to the European Union and aimed at polluting public debate. To answer the research questions, we focused the study on the production of content, so as to deepen the origin of any potential disinformation activities and, at the same time, focus the analysis on a more defined subject of research.

Taking into consideration the articles published online by news platforms, blogs, aggregators or websites between January and December 2019, We have defined a set of relevant keywords and used an advanced statistical and semantic analysis tool to identify the relevant data and assess the objectives and impact of systematic disinformation actions related to the EU in the Italian network. The analysis of the contents published in the Italian network has highlighted how the European Union is perceived as a multifaceted concept, the subject of discussions and disinformation. It is a theme capable of arousing significant attention and a strong emotional involvement in users who – depending on the actors involved – can be manipulated for multiple purposes.

The study showed that during 2019 the idea of Europe was used in Italy to poison and inflame public discourse at local level through the action of organized disinformation networks, and also to promote particular interests. At the same time, the analysis has revealed massive clusters of positive content, which are useful for spreading a wider sense of community and increasing the positive perception of being European citizens.