"Don't be manipulated"Prebunking campaign raises awareness of disinformation

Nobody wants to fall for disinformation and fake news. However, it is tedious to carefully check every piece of content on the Internet for its sources. To protect yourself from fake news, it helps to know the most common manipulation techniques. After all, false information often makes use of the same deceptive strategies or narratives. Preventively educating people about the mechanisms of disinformation is called prebunking. In a new video campaign, three manipulation techniques are presented.
Prebunking campaign raises awareness of disinformation

Misinformation is spread online every day. To counter this problem, Google subsidiary Jigsaw will launch a video campaign in Germany in the coming months in collaboration with six German partners (including klicksafe) using the "prebunking" method. The aim is to raise public awareness of the issue of malformation on the web. The videos with the claim "Don't let yourself be manipulated" will be shown to users of YouTube, Instagram and Facebook from June 5.

What is "prebunking"?

"Prebunking" is a scientifically researched communication technique that helps users detect and defend against future attempts to manipulate them with false information. This helps to increase the resilience of society as a whole against disinformation. "Prebunking" is typically done through short videos that are played out as advertisements on social platforms. The methodology for displaying prebunking videos is based on research conducted by Jigsaw in collaboration with the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol.

These manipulation techniques are about

Decontextualization: A technique in which texts or images are intentionally shown in a different context or incompletely.

Scaremongering: A technique in which lurid words such as "dramatic" or "extreme" are used in headlines, for example, to evoke emotional reactions.

Whataboutism: A technique used to intentionally distract from a topic. A sudden change of topic or the question "What about ...?" in conversations and online can be a sign that whataboutism is being used.

Recognize whataboutism and protect yourself from misinformation

We have compiled all videos and a lot of background information in our Prebunking topic area.

→ To the Prebunking topic area

More information about the campaign

The video campaign on prebunking was developed by Google, Jigsaw and the Moonshot agency. Other partner organizations that participated include Correctiv, Alfred Landecker Stiftung, Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, Das NETTZ, Neue Deutsche Medienmacher:innen and klicksafe. Similar prebunking campaigns have already been implemented in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.