Measuring the effectiveness of counter-disinformation strategies in the Czech security forces

Abstract

ABSTRACT Increasingly, misinformation is a pressing security problem. Different types of counter-disinformation strategies have been proposed and tested in a growing number of studies. The findings from these studies, however, are limited to predominantly North American and Western European contexts where ordinary people are recipients of mis- or disinformation. There is a considerable gap in our understanding of the susceptibility to false information in closed communities like state security forces. To remedy this problem, the aim of this study is twofold: (1) examine the susceptibility of Czech members of armed security forces to misinformation and (2) in this context, test the effectiveness of two types of counter-disinformation strategies: prebunking and persuasive communication. We present a survey experiment of 618 officers from the Czech police and army. While we do not find support for the effect of persuasion or prebunking on perceived information accuracy, we show that the use of positive persuasion creates a gap in how police and army officers evaluate false and biased statements. The results offer an evaluation of the resilience of the Czech security forces to mis- and disinformation and suggest developing tailored approaches to counter disinformation in Czechia and elsewhere.