Evidence-based Techniques for Countering Mis-/Dis-/Mal-Information: A Primer

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is keenly aware of the uptick of mis-/dis-/mal-information (MDM) activity since 2018 and recognizes a critical need for the US government to design and implement a program to protect US service members from the potentially malign influence of MDM campaigns. ONR is also aware of the increasingly robust body of research on this topic and recognizes the benefit of aggregating such evidence-based research to inform the development of a program to protect US service members. To support ONRs objectives, we offer a plain-language explanation of the evidence-based research on four types of counter-MDM interventions: inoculation, debunking, factchecking, and media literacy. More specifically, we discuss the origins and logic of each intervention, summarize overall research findings, identify issues of ongoing analysis, and discuss how long the effects of each intervention typically last. We completed this review in support of a broader project whose goal is to recommend a single intervention (or suite of interventions) that the US government might adopt to protect service members from malign foreign influence.