Somulator

We exercise regularly to be able to handle different aspects of a crisis when it occurs. How can we learn to deal with propaganda, disinformation and influence operations?

Researchers at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment have put together a social media training environment called Somulator with online newspapers and emulations of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

With this tool, participants in an exercise can gain vital experience on how to handle a large flow of information while carrying out other crisis-related tasks.

Easy – flexible – realistic

This social media simulator can be used without any specialist skills. If you can use Facebook and Twitter, you can also use Somulator. All you need is a web browser. 

With a few mouse clicks you can distribute a large number of posts that the participants in an exercise have to deal with. 

The exercise organisers can choose the number of participants – whether it's 20 or 200, Somulator works just as easily. It will also work in exercises where several agencies or institutions work together.

The content, such as news articles and posts, can be prepared in advance, or written live by exercise control personnel. It is also possible to create any number of profiles so that different participants receive different content. Participants can ‘like’, ‘share’ and ‘comment’ on the posts. In this way Somulator provides a realistic experience of how disinformation and propaganda is spread online.

We believe this tool is relevant for the Armed Forces, other actors who will handle crisis situations, as well as our NATO partners.