Workshops on how to defeat online trolling based on the practical roleplaying game and the Lithuanian “elves” experience. 

Role-playing game (based on a modified concept of mafia game) - 1h

1. A short introduction to the topic
2. On the collaborative board, there are multiple social media platform areas (social bubbles) where participants will see cases of “social media content” that is either directly misinforming or incentivises typical trolling behaviour - examples drawn from the NATO myth debunking archives
3. Participants divided into several small groups are tasked to compete against an unknown “villain” group by imitating Lithuanian elves in the identification of false narratives and overloading social bubbles with responses that would dominate and push out trolling/disinformation behaviour and debunk disinformation;
4. One of four groups is tasked to be “villains” and behaving like trolls to dominate social bubbles of their choice (multiple if needed); examples of social media posts from actual trolling/disinformation activity would be provided to the group with a warning not to use in real life; their goal is to win at least one social media bubble by dominating the narrative there;
5. This set-up imitates social media environment and helps train agility in response and collaborated effort to combat disinfo;
6. Results are evaluated in a plenary after the game and if needed repeated.
7. Brief talk about the upcoming Social Media Elves and Trolls project by Visegrad Insight – overview of major issues, trends, and examples of Troll and Elf strategies on social media.
8. Joint conclusions and recommendations for the EU from the workshops.