How to Detect & Analyse Identity-Based Disinformation/FIMI: A Practical Guide to Conduct Open Source Investigations

Developed jointly by the EEAS and EU DisinfoLab, this practical guide addresses a specific and underserved analytical challenge: FIMI operations that target identity-based communities — LGBTIQ+ people, ethnic and religious minorities, migrant populations — as a vector for social division and democratic destabilisation. The guide provides an OSINT toolkit specifically calibrated for detecting and analysing this category of influence operation, including search strategies, source evaluation, network analysis, and documentation standards.

The identity-based framing is analytically important. Adversarial actors have consistently used identity cleavages as vectors for FIMI — not primarily to change views on the targeted communities but to amplify social conflict, undermine institutional trust, and create wedge issues that destabilise democratic coalitions. Analysts who apply generic FIMI detection methods to identity-targeted operations often miss the strategic logic. This guide fills a genuine gap in the practitioner toolkit.