Rai, anti-misinformation pills get 100 million views

Ten 'pills' to combat disinformation. On air since 30 April on all the Public Service channels, the ten one-minute clips of the fourth season have already garnered around 100 million views. By way of example, the most 'clicked' clips are the first and second. The first, titled Turning on the Fire From Misinformation to Violence focuses on an event that took place in July 2024, in Southport, in which false news about the perpetrator of the killing of three little girls triggers racial hatred; In the second, entitled The City of Angels and Hoaxes-The Los Angeles Fire Case, while firefighters fight relentlessly, an equally dangerous outbreak spreads with the speed and force of fake news. The Hollywood sign shrouded in flames and the famous Oscar statuette lying blackened in the rubble are all the result of generative artificial intelligence.

"The results obtained so far with all the 'pills', while the campaign is still in progress," says Rai Ufficio Studi director Francesco Giorgino, "underline the importance of prevention in the fight against false and untrue news, and highlight some of the dangers linked to an uninhibited and distorted use of Artificial Intelligence. The films, currently on air, are part of a communication campaign that has won over millions of users and viewers in the past editions with over 848 million contacts in Italy.

"Disinformation now affects all areas of current affairs more than ever before," comments Rai Contenuti Digitali e Transmediali director Marcello Ciannamea, "and pollutes the media ecosystem with fake news, manipulation and conspiracy theories. Managing to explain and make apparently hostile topics attractive in just a few seconds was perhaps the most difficult task, but from the numbers we can say that we hit the target'.

The initiative "United against disinformation" is part of the digital literacy path started some time ago by the public service and is part of the media literacy activity in which Rai, through the coordination of Rai Ufficio Studi, has been engaged in setting up the Italian Digital Media Observatory (Idmo): a consortium co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the Luiss Guido Carli University that, in addition to Rai, sees the participation of Tim, Cy4gate, T6 Ecosystems, NewsGuard, Ansa and Pagella Politica.