Every day, millions of people around the world scroll through social media feeds filled with breaking news, viral clips, angry arguments, and suspicious claims. It is increasingly hard to know what is real, who to trust, and where to turn for reliable information. That confusion is not accidental. It is often manufactured by actors who want to destabilize societies, undermine democratic institutions, and push people toward fear and division. In response, the BBC World Service has launched Global Signals, groundbreaking research designed to provide a deeper, more honest assessment of the online information space. The goal is not simply to track what is being said, but to understand how disinformation spreads, how it takes hold, and what role independent journalism can play in building what researchers call “information resilience.” The project brings together the unique expertise of BBC Monitoring, the BBC’s Global Audiences team, and the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, or CASM Technology. Together, they examined two of the most contested and complex information environments in the world: Russian and Arabic. Over a four-month period, from 1 February to 31 May 2026, researchers analyzed more than 100,000 posts from known disinformation accounts and over 54,000 posts that mentioned the BBC across 11 social platforms. The scale of the research is unprecedented, and the findings paint a vivid picture of a global battle for truth that is being fought not only in newsrooms, but in comment sections, share buttons, and recommendation algorithms.
The research identifies three key ways the BBC influences the global information environment, and each one matters more than people might realize. The first is what the researchers call “directing attention.” In a world where falsehoods can spread faster than facts, silence is dangerous. If credible news organizations are not present in a conversation, disinformation can fill the vacuum and become the default story. The BBC’s presence at scale, especially during key global moments, helps ensure that when people search for answers, they find journalism rather than propaganda. The BBC’s ability to respond quickly means it is often part of the conversation before false narratives have a chance to harden. The second influence is “shaping interpretation.” Facts alone are not enough. People need context, background, analysis, and a sense of what an event means. The BBC is widely used as a source to establish what is true, but also to help audiences understand why it matters. In a confused information environment, this interpretive role is crucial. The third influence is “trusted authority.” The BBC does not just report the news; it actively debunks false claims and corrects the record. The research shows that audiences across both Arabic and Russian information ecosystems rely on the BBC as an authoritative source, even when other voices are spreading lies. These three roles—directing attention, shaping interpretation, and serving as a trusted authority—are not separate. They reinforce each other. The BBC’s ability to set the agenda makes it harder for disinformation to dominate, its context and analysis make it harder for propaganda to simplify complex realities, and its reputation for accuracy makes it a target for those who want to destroy trust in journalism itself.
The comparison between the Arabic and Russian information ecosystems reveals just how different the challenges can be. In Arabic-speaking markets, the BBC is mentioned regularly in connection with its journalism. People argue about its reporting, share its articles, and sometimes criticize it, but the conversation is about the work itself. In Russia, the situation is far more hostile. The BBC is blocked, and its content is jammed and attacked at every turn. For the BBC to have any presence in the Russian information space, circumvention becomes essential. Audiences must be able to find ways around state censorship, and the BBC must be able to reach them despite constant obstacles. The research also found that Russia’s disinformation tide is so vast that, at surface level, it appears overwhelming. This is not organic conversation or genuine political debate. It is the product of significant state investment, coordinated networks, and industrial-scale manipulation. Against that backdrop, the BBC needs both scale and pace to respond. The research uncovered significant efforts to attack and discredit the BBC, including networks that fabricated BBC personas and invented BBC content. These are not random trolls; they are organized operations designed to confuse audiences and poison the well of independent journalism. Yet despite all of this, the research found something remarkable: across both the Arabic and Russian information ecosystems, the BBC World Service is covering stories that local outlets and state media are not. It is telling the stories that powerful actors would rather hide. It is giving voice to people who might otherwise be silenced. In countries where the media is controlled or captured, that independent coverage is not just valuable—it is vital.
Fiona Crack, the Director of the BBC World Service, describes this research as the beginning of a much deeper understanding of the BBC’s role in complex information markets. Her words reflect a quiet but significant shift in how the BBC thinks about its mission. For a long time, the focus was on producing accurate journalism and correcting mistakes. That is still essential. But Crack emphasizes that debunking and verifying are only part of the story. The research underlines the importance of scale and presence, and the need to respond at pace. If the BBC teams can better understand the information environment and the false narratives that audiences are exposed to, they can ensure that daily news and content, including the mix of reporting, explanation, and analysis, actually responds to people’s needs. This is not about chasing clicks or competing for attention for its own sake. It is about meeting audiences where they are, with the information they need to make sense of a confusing world. Crack’s conclusion is simple but profound: accurate and impartial journalism that people can trust has never been more important. In an era of deep fakes, viral conspiracy theories, and algorithmically amplified anger, trust is the rarest currency. It cannot be bought or manufactured. It has to be earned, story by story, day by day, and it can be destroyed in an instant by a single misstep. The BBC’s commitment to impartiality is not a relic of an older broadcasting era; it is a strategic asset in the fight for truth.
Carl Miller, from the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, offers an even more striking interpretation of the findings. He points out that the BBC’s role in confronting information threats is not just about debunking and fact-checking, although that remains important. By capturing attention in the first place, and by providing context and analysis in how events are understood, the BBC confers additional protections on information integrity before disinformation is even created. In other words, the BBC’s everyday journalism is a form of prevention. When the BBC is present, it makes the information ecosystem healthier. When it is absent, the vacuum is quickly filled by those who want to deceive. Miller says it is little surprise that the BBC is such a key target of Russian information warfare. It is one of the most important barriers standing in the way of those who seek to manipulate public opinion. But his findings are sobering. The level of the problem is much vaster than anticipated. The Russian information ecosystem is incredibly crowded with inauthentic online activity. It is not a few coordinated accounts; it is a massive, sprawling infrastructure designed to shape what people see, think, and believe. And the resource focused on attacking the BBC is breathtaking. This is not a side project for disinformation operatives; it is a priority. The attack on the BBC is not incidental to Russian information warfare; it is central to it. Because the BBC is a trusted source, it must be discredited. Because it is independent, it must be drowned out. Because it is effective, it must be destroyed. Miller’s conclusion is that circumvention is critical. Reaching audiences in international markets means finding ways around the walls, both technical and political, that are built to keep the truth out.
The stakes of this research are perhaps best understood through the numbers. BBC News Arabic is the BBC’s largest and oldest language service, reaching more than 37 million people on average every week. BBC News Russian reached 6.5 million Russian speakers on average every week in 2025/26, an increase of more than 45 percent year-on-year. Those numbers are not just statistics. They are millions of human beings making a choice to seek out reliable information in the face of immense pressure. They are people who refuse to accept that the only stories they will ever hear are the ones their governments approve. The BBC’s response to the UK Government’s Green Paper outlined the critical role the broadcaster can play in rising to the challenge of information resilience and countering disinformation. That includes defending democratic values and strengthening what is now called epistemic security—the security of the knowledge and information that societies rely on to function. In a world where lies can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes, the need for trustworthy journalism has never been more urgent. Global Signals is not just a research project. It is a reminder that information is a battlefield, and that the choices made in newsrooms, on social platforms, and by audiences themselves will shape the future. The BBC cannot solve this problem alone, but it can be a beacon. By understanding the information environment, by showing up at scale, by responding quickly, and by refusing to abandon the principles of accuracy and impartiality, it can help people everywhere navigate a world that often seems designed to confuse them. In that fight, the most powerful tool is not technology or algorithms. It is trust—earned, protected, and shared.