Democratic resilience to authoritarian disinformation: Initiating a needs-based approach

Disinformation by authoritarian regimes is a growing security challenge for democracies. The effectiveness of such disinformation depends on citizens in democratic countries as recipients and potential disseminators. Resilience-building policy therefore requires a better understanding of why audiences might endorse Russian disinformation. Despite relevance in other fields, the role of psychological needs has been overlooked. This article takes an initial theoretical step through a survey study with Greek, Serbian, Swedish, and British respondents. Contrary to expectations, our confirmatory analysis shows that needs are not significantly directly related to disinformation endorsement. However, their role might be more indirect, with associations observed with several other intermediary factors, above all conspiratorial orientation and media choice. The article therefore sketches a more complex picture of the role of psychological needs when it comes to endorsement of Russian disinformation. The findings highlight the value of this needs-based research avenue for future construction of counter-disinformation strategies.