Illustrative: a hexagonal population grid where a wave rises, peaks and recovers from seeded outbreaks

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Governance, Policy and International Affairs · Department of Science, Technology and Society

Misinformation, AI-generated content, platforms, crisis information and trust

Information integrity and public trust

Information integrity and public trust covers the quality of the information ecosystem, the spread of misinformation and disinformation, AI-generated content, the role of platforms and media, and the trust people place in institutions and evidence, including crisis information.

01Scope

What the discipline covers

The subtopics its courses and labs teach.

Courses
In preparation
Levels
In development
Labs
Trigger lab, Geo quiz
  • Misinformation and disinformation
  • AI-generated content
  • Platforms and media systems
  • Crisis information
  • Institutional trust
  • Information governance and rights
  • Community information
  • Fact-checking and prebunking

Courses in development extend the scope to one further subject: Information integrity analysis and response.

02Maps

Build a twin of any place

Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow information integrity and public trust on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.

The Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states: a flat plan of the faculty twin. 13 countries; First-level divisions, geoBoundaries gbOpen with a licence gate per boundary: read live when the 3D twin opens; Natural events, NASA EONET: read live when the 3D twin opens. Graticule every five degrees; countries (natural earth 1:110m) as outlines.
The Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda and neighbours. Flat map of the same data: the 13 countries on a graticule and the numbers below. The globe opens on devices that can draw it, once its code has been checked; the live events and divisions load in the globe on request, each with its data date.
  • 13 countries
  • First-level divisions, geoBoundaries gbOpen with a licence gate per boundary: read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Natural events, NASA EONET: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Countries are raised on the globe for legibility.

Drag to turn the globe, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows turn, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat map of the same data: the 13 countries on a graticule and the numbers below. The globe opens on devices that can draw it, once its code has been checked; the live events and divisions load in the globe on request, each with its data date.

The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).

03Live map

People and exposure in the Philippines

Population density, night-time lights, air quality, heat and floods, over the Philippines.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

People and exposure

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

People and exposure, framed on the Philippines.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (7 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

04The subject

The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies

The field and its scope

For communicators, platform and media policy analysts, crisis managers and researchers who need to understand how misinformation spreads, what interventions do, how platforms are governed and how trust in institutions is measured.

05The method

From a reshare rate to a cascade: why false content travels further and what prebunking subtracts

Each exposure to a post yields on average some number of further reshares; below one the cascade dies, and its total size is the sum of a geometric series; false content reshared about 70 per cent more often than true content reaches many times the people, and prebunking works by lowering that rate before exposure.

Sources: Vosoughi, Roy and Aral, The spread of true and false news online (2018); Roozenbeek and van der Linden, Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation (2019); Lewandowsky, Ecker, Seifert, Schwarz and Cook, Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing (2012); Budak, Nyhan, Rothschild, Thorson and Watts, Misunderstanding the harms of online misinformation (2024); European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) (2022).

06At a glance

At a glance, with 5 related topics

Information integrity and public trust at a glance

risksacademy.comgovernance-policydiscipline

Information integrity and public trust: 0 primary courses open, 1 in preparation and 2 also taught here, across 8 subtopics and 2 connected disciplines. Courses: RAT-248 L2 in preparation, RAT-203 L2 also taught here, RAT-225 L2 also taught here.Artificialintelligence andmachine learningAI and digitalgovernanceRAT-248RAT-203RAT-225
Information integrity and public trust at a glance
  • Open, 0
  • In preparation, 1
  • Also taught here, 2
  • Subtopics, 8
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Twin builderBuild a twin of any placeWorked example: the Horn of Africa and the Nile basin states · 4 generators · 10 layers · 3 instruments
07Labs

How the subject is practised in labs

LabWhat you do in itCourses using it
Trigger labSet forecast thresholds, pre-agreed actions and messages1
Geo quizCheck spatial reasoning on where hazards and systems meet1
08Console

How Information integrity and public trust is taught, as a process you can run

Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.

09Practice

Practice, learning and connections

How technology helps and what risk it brings

10Take part

Take part in Governance, Policy and International Affairs

Start from who you are.

11References

Core references and where to begin

Start with Wardle, then Lazer, then Vosoughi.

12Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in information integrity and public trust?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Misinformation

False or misleading information shared without intent to deceive.

Term

Disinformation

False information spread deliberately to deceive.

Term

Information operation

A coordinated effort to influence an audience, often through deceptive means.

Term

Content provenance

Information about where content came from and how it was changed.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Information integrity and public trust

Start with an open course

The catalogue lists each course with its outcomes, labs, hours and level.

Risk Academy

Courses · practice · credentials

Not for profit

Our articles, maps and twins are free to read and free to republish. Readers and partners keep it that way.

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Who funds us

Risk Academy is a not-for-profit institution. To ask who funds a piece of work, use the funding questions form.

Independence

Editors and the expert reviewers named on each article decide what we publish. Funders and partners do not review or approve articles before publication.

Licence

Articles: CC BY 4.0. Figures, maps, twins and data: CC BY 4.0. Other uses: ask through the permissions form.