ISD Glossary
ISD’s Glossary provides clear definitions of key terms related to extremism, hate, information operations and tech accountability. This page is continually reviewed to ensure accuracy.
Fake news
Fake news is false or misleading content presented as news and expressed in written, printed, electronic, and digital communication. The term has also become politicised in recent years and used as a pejorative term to discredit others with opposing viewpoints. For these reasons, it is not widely used in research and is used by ISD primarily to reference its use by other researchers.
False Flag Operation
A 'false flag' is an act carried out to deceive observers and disguise the source behind the action with the aim of blame being attributed to another person/group.
Far or radical left
There is no broadly agreed definition of the far-left, and the scholarship on radical or far-left actions and groups in contemporary Western societies is much less developed than research on the far-right. Following Mudde and political researcher Luke March, and resonating with the differentiation of the far-right, we propose making a distinction between left-wing radicalism and extremism, where the latter groups are, again, anti-democratic, and the former advocate fundamental political and economic changes without being anti-democratic per se. Radical left groups, actions or networks are typically rooted in Marxist, socialist or anarchist ideologies, and pursue an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist and radically egalitarian, anti-fascist agenda, typically with an internationalist outlook. Radical left groups can sometimes be identified by the use of certain symbolism (e.g. Antifa flag, three arrows). In general, far-left groups may or may not see violence, especially against their political opponents (e.g. perceived representatives of fascism and capitalism), as a legitimate tool to pursue their political agenda.
Far right/ far-right
In line with academic and far right expert Cas Mudde, we define the far right as groups and individuals exhibiting at least three of the following five features: nationalism, racism, xenophobia, anti-democracy or strong state advocacy. Far right is an umbrella term, which encapsulates both the ‘radical right’ and the ‘extreme right’. According to Mudde, the radical right and the extreme right both ‘believe that inequalities between people are natural and positive’, but they hold different positions on democracy. While the radical right is opposed to certain aspects of liberal democracy (e.g. minority rights, independent institutions) it is not in principle against democracy, but favours a majoritarian democracy led by the in-group it identifies with. Extreme-right actors on the other hand are in principle opposed to democracy as a form of governance, instead favouring authoritarian rule. According to ISD’s working definition, far-right extremism refers to a form of nationalism that is characterised by its reference to racial, ethnic or cultural supremacy.
Fediverse
The Fediverse is an attempt to create a decentralised alternative to major social networks. The Fediverse includes micro-blogging, video and image-sharing services. The different servers within the Fediverse can communicate with one another, provided the services are using the same network protocol.
Fleeting content
Fleeting content is only available live and is not stored for later access. It includes livestreams, as well as videos and images that are shared via social media with pre-defined time limits.
Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI)
Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) is defined by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) as “a mostly non-illegal pattern of behaviour that threatens or has the potential to negatively impact values, procedures and political processes. Such activity is manipulative in character, conducted in an intentional and coordinated manner. Actors of such activity can be state or non-state actors, including their proxies inside and outside of their own territory.” ENISA explains that the term FIMI aims to refine the concept of disinformation by emphasising “manipulative behaviour, as opposed to the truth of content being delivered.”
Fragmented Platforms
We define fragmented platforms as those where online content is theoretically accessible, without technological or ethical barriers, but nevertheless cannot be searched quickly or systematically, for example, via an API. Relevant content must therefore be found manually amid vast amounts of other material.
Free Software
The term free software refers to computer programmes with rights of use that allow scrutiny, distribution and modification by third parties. The goal is to enable everyone to work together to develop these programmes. This means the free software movement relies heavily on cooperation, which is what differentiates it from the pragmatic use of open-source software. “Free” refers to the ability to develop and distribute the software. The movement believes that the characteristics of free software prevent what they consider to be illegitimate power relationships between software owners and software users. “Free” explicitly does not mean that the software is free of charge. Free software contrasts with proprietary software which, for example, has not made its source code public, or has restrictive rights of use. Advocates of free software criticise proprietary software for keeping its source code confidential, which in their opinion prevents cooperation and creates knowledge hierarchies.
