STOP THE VIRUS OF DISINFORMATION the risk of malicious use of social media during COVID-19 and the technology options to fight it STOP THE VIRUS OF DISINFORMATION the risk of malicious use of social media during COVID-19 and the technology options to fight it DISCLAIMER The opinions, findings, and conclusions and recommendations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Re- search Institute (UNICRI) or any other the national, regional or international entity involved. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, websites, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an en- dorsement by UNICRI of the opinions expressed in them. The designation employed and presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal sta- tus of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Contents of this publication may be quoted or reproduced, provided that the source of information is acknowledged. ©UNICRI, November 2020 COPYRIGHT United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) Viale Maestri del Lavoro,10, 10127 Torino – Italy Tel: +39 011-6537 111 / Fax: +39 011-6313 368 Website: www.unicri.it E-mail:
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[email protected] Photocomposed by Bologna Antonella, Turin - Italy Foreword This report describes how terrorist, violent extremist and organized criminal groups are trying to take advantage of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic to expand their activities and jeopardize the efficacy and credibility of response measures by gov- ernments.