Awareness Guide on Disinformation, Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI)
The Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia has prepared and published a new handbook titled “Disinformation, Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference: Awareness Guide during the Electoral Process.” This initiative is driven by the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Republic of Armenia, in the context of which a significant increase in information threats is expected.
The purpose of the guide is to raise public awareness regarding manipulative campaigns aimed at undermining trust in state institutions and delegitimizing democratic processes. The guide details the essence of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), which represents coordinated and manipulative behavior carried out by external actors.
Unlike ordinary disinformation, FIMI focuses not only on content, but also on the tactics and methods of actors posing a threat to national security. Among the most common methods used during elections are the polarization of society, the use of emotional discourse, identity impersonation, and the creation and dissemination of manipulative materials through artificial intelligence.
The Prime Minister’s Office acts as the central actor in the coordinated state response, ensuring the monitoring of the information environment, inter-agency cooperation, and the implementation of new technological solutions. As one such solution, the guide highlights the Stugel.am platform, which utilizes the capabilities of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLM) to analyze the authenticity of images, videos, and texts in real time.
To enhance citizen resilience, the guide suggests following the principle of “Check before sharing.” Every individual is advised to carefully verify the credibility of sources, authenticate audiovisual materials using reverse search tools, and explore alternative information sources to form their own independent perspective. The full version of the guide is available on the official website of the “Information and Public Relations Center” SNCO of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.
You can download the awareness guide in both English and Armenian versions.
