ICT4Peace Academy · Free online course
Harmful Information and Multilateral Diplomacy
Recognise and respond to information that harms multilateral work, with the tools diplomats already use.
Register today. We will email you your enrolment link when the course opens on 18 November.
Why this course
Misinformation, disinformation, malinformation and hate speech do not only circulate online. They reach the formal meetings where diplomats work, and they can work through those meetings’ own procedures.
Establishing the facts can take months, sometimes years. The harm spreads in hours. This course is about what you can do in that time, with the tools you already use: reporting to capital, démarches, lines to take, the right of reply and joint statements.
Who it is for: diplomats and international officials of every country, in missions, ministries and international organisations. No technical background is needed.
Each slide shows its narration as text; you can also listen to it.
What the course covers
Module 0 · 15 min
Orientation
What harmful information is, and why different institutions use different names for it.
Module 1 · 25 min
What’s at stake
How harmful information affects negotiations, trust and field operations, and how to report on it to capital.
Module 2 · 30 min
How it works, and who does it
The common pathways, including legitimate procedures used to create a false impression.
Module 3 · 28 min
Spotting it
Four quick checks on suspect material, and how to verify an unexpected request before you act.
Module 4 · 32 min
Responding
Choosing a proportionate response, from lines to take to public attribution, and keeping every claim within what you can support.
Module 5 · 25 min
Preparation, and the legal limits
What to have in place before an incident, and the freedom-of-expression standards any response must meet.
Module 6 · 35 min
Working together
Partners, frameworks and mechanisms, and a personal action plan of three things you will do in your own mission.
Final exercise · 25 min
The inbox
Monday, 08:00, your mission in Geneva. An overnight video, a voice note that sounds like your ambassador, and a journalist who wants comment by noon.
Pause-and-decide questions give feedback on every answer.
How it works
- Self-paced, slide by slide. Read the text on screen, and listen to the narration if you wish. Each module fits into one session of about half an hour.
- Practice, not theory. Pause-and-decide questions and scenario questions, each with feedback.
- Fictional case studies built from patterns in real events. No real state is named.
- Things you keep: five one-page job aids for your desk, and your own action plan.
- A certificate when you complete the course.
Four of the job aids you keep: the reporting cable, four checks on suspect material, matching the response to the incident, and the legal test card.
Register for the course
Registration is free. Fill in the form below, and we will email you your personal enrolment link on 18 November 2026, when the course opens.
About the course
Harmful Information and Multilateral Diplomacy is produced by the ICT4Peace Foundation, an independent foundation based in Geneva. It is written for diplomats and international officials of every country, and takes no position on contested political questions.
Questions: academy@ict4peace.org · How we use your registration details
The final exercise puts you in your own inbox on a difficult Monday morning.