How Much Disinformation and Foul Language Can the Crisis Team Handle?
Introduction
Wind turbines supposedly kill birds, or wind farms supposedly lower nearby property values with their noise. Claims like these come up often in public debate whenever a wind farm is being built in Slovakia.
Social media is fertile ground for disinformation, which can spread across the entire country in a matter of hours. With AI, it’s often indistinguishable from reality. In situations like this, it’s extremely difficult for companies to communicate effectively and prevent a crisis from breaking out.
One example is a wind farm developer, who reached out to us for help with their social media, which had been flooded with disinformation and was causing real public backlash. Time for our Crisis Team.
Crisis Team
We are the only communications agency in Slovakia with an entire team dedicated to and specialized in crisis communication on social media. So how does our Crisis Team actually work?
1. It Monitors Every Corner of the Internet 24/7
The Crisis Team provides 24/7 monitoring of both social and traditional media. However, automated software monitoring often isn’t enough. Especially on social media, there are many closed groups that can’t be monitored using available tools. That’s why we also rely on human eyes – team members who manually check selected communities and groups several times a day, to see for themselves whether anything relevant to the brand is circulating there.
Beyond monitoring, the team also filters the content. That way, only relevant information and data reach the client, saving them time and resources. This was exactly the case for the wind farm developer, whose pages were under a barrage of hoaxes and disinformation about wind energy.
*Text in the picture – Private group post
Article title: Wind turbines don’t cause epilepsy. We debunk the biggest hoaxes about wind energy
Comment 1: It’s the dirtiest energy there is, just look at making the turbine itself. The mast, concrete, fiberglass, trucks burning diesel for thousands of hours. And the blades – I think every 5 years – can’t even be recycled.
Comment 2 : I’d just like to ask – when you build a nuclear, combined-cycle gas, hydro or coal power plant, does that use more concrete, or less? Does it use more “steel,” or less? During construction, and during operation too, do more trucks burning diesel show up, or fewer? *
2. It Moderates Toxic Comments
The Crisis Team provides continuous, 24/7 comment moderation thanks to an AI solution. Our AI tool can autonomously recognize and hide not only Slovak but also English profanity, and it can handle slang abbreviations for various vulgar terms as well. Hateful content is moderated even when it appears in images without any accompanying text. Comment moderation also covers spam, so comments stay clear of both hateful messages and unsolicited offers. Of course, the AI’s output is then reviewed and corrected by a human moderator, which ensures that every decision made is the right one.
*Text in the picture – A turbine 500 m from you? The sound is minimal. Find out more.
Comment 1: Get the hell out of here, you filthy stinkers !!! Folks, don’t let yourselves be intimidated, not even by bought-off mayors …
Comment 2 : Oh so it’s supposedly “quiet energy”?!?! A lie, nonsense, and a massive screw-job on the people!!!!
Comment 3: Total morons, the dust from them would kill everything alive… *
3. It Responds with Facts and Debunks Lies
In the final stage, the team prepares an immediate response to the monitored content. This means the client is always ready to react and doesn’t risk letting a situation spiral out of control. The Crisis Team prepares its responses based on the client’s specifications, so besides the tone of the replies, it’s also agreed in advance what the Crisis Team will avoid saying.
Comment 1: …….the turbines are noisy, they endanger animals, they disfigure the landscape, and they can’t be recycled, and in the end they’re pointless for Slovakia anyway, since we already have a surplus of energy, and on top of that another nuclear power plant and a pumped-storage hydro plant are already being built. Turbines only benefit investors who cash in on the profits and EU funds, and the price of green energy drives up the price of energy from other sources !!!
Comment 2 : Hello, we’d like to add a few facts to your claims. Wind farms here can’t just spring up “out of nowhere” – every single one has to go through a strict EIA process that assesses noise, landscape impact, and the effects on human health and wildlife, and experience from Austria shows that animals return to the area after construction. Modern turbines also aren’t “unrecyclable” – around 90% of the materials can be reused or recycled, for example in construction or street furniture. The claim about a surplus of energy in Slovakia doesn’t hold up either: after 2030, domestic production won’t cover rising demand even once the new nuclear unit comes online, which is exactly why expert institutions recommend a mix of nuclear, pumped-storage plants and renewables, including wind. Wind power in Slovakia isn’t subsidized, either, and the investor has to prove the project works purely on electricity sales on the open market – otherwise banks won’t finance it at all. Without new domestic sources, we’d have to import more and more energy from abroad, which would drive prices and dependency up, not down. *
The Crisis Team, however, patiently and systematically pushed back against every hoax and piece of disinformation in the discussion. Proof that these efforts paid off came as people in the discussion gradually began taking the initiative themselves, helping to make the debate more civil and responsible.
Wind Farms Under a Barrage of Hoaxes
In the case of the wind farms, the hoaxes included many repeatedly debunked claims you may have heard yourself: that turbines kill birds, that decommissioned turbines are supposedly non-recyclable waste, or that wind farms lower nearby property values with their noise.
*Text in the picture
Post: “European ” green energy.”
In Germany, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have become dumping grounds for fiberglass that can’t be recycled or burned without damaging the atmosphere. Ironically, every new turbine that promises a solution to coal generates tons of waste that nobody knows what to do with.
Comment 1: Hello,the video might look shocking at first glance, but the truth is simple. This is temporary storage for dismantled blades awaiting transport for recycling. Footage like this often spreads without any explanation, but today’s recycling process covers 85-90% of a turbine’s materials. Steel and copper are processed using standard technologies, and composite blades are reused, for example, as bridge elements, shelters or street furniture. Only the newest types of turbines – with a long lifespan and fully recyclable components meeting European standards – will be installed in Slovakia.More about wind energy and our work:Podporme vietor (SAPI): “Myths and Facts about Wind Energy” *
*Text in the picture
Comment 1: It murders birds, some people get sick from that sound, from the infrasound, nearby, and the houses become unsellable.I live a kilometer from the turbines at Cerová, and those are small compared to the ones being planned now.
Comment 2 : Hello,Modern wind farms are already technologically equipped to minimize their impact on the surrounding area and provide us with the affordable energy we need. Claims about bird mortality are a myth – their impact is statistically negligible compared to other threats, and modern turbines are positioned higher up, use passive solutions (such as contrasting colors), and even feature technology that automatically stops the turbine when animals approach. As for noise and infrasound, even the larger planned turbines must strictly maintain a minimum distance of 1,000 meters from homes and undergo a Health Impact Assessment (HIA). This review guarantees that infrasound and noise levels are negligible for human health and won’t exceed hygiene standards. Thanks to these advanced solutions and strict oversight, we get more of the affordable energy we need (at a production cost of only around EUR 34-80/MWh) with minimal, well-controlled consequences.You can find more relevant information about the importance and benefits of wind energy at this link: *
The Crisis Team, however, patiently and systematically pushed back against every hoax and piece of disinformation in the discussion. Proof that these efforts paid off came as people in the discussion gradually began taking the initiative themselves, helping to make the debate more civil and responsible.
*Text in the picture
Comment 1: This Thisis is a wind fara wind farm b built back in 1985 in thilt back in 1985 in the USA (Patte USA (Pattersonon Pass, CalPass, Califofornia). 40 yearnia). 40 years ago ago, nobody wanobody was talking ab talking aboutut rrecyccyclinging anythinanything. Today, r. Today, recycling is a requiremencycling is a requirement,, and it’and it’s mandatory mandatory inn the EU. 90% othe EU. 90% of a tu a turbine’s bine’s materialaterial can be recycled. The ocan be recycled. The other oper optionion iis s so-calle-called repepowering – wering – modernizingodernizing the equequipmepment once it t once it reeacheches the e the end of its lifof its lifespspann, replreplacicing it with new units. Ang it with new units. And that’s at’s exactlyxactly wwhat’at’s happ happening right now in the park ning right now in the park shownhown in thin the vide video. Hundr. Hundredsds of old tof old turbirbinees ar are gradua gradually y beinging repreplacacedd by just by just a few dozen new ones, sfew dozen new ones, since technonce technology has gy has movoved on in 40 yd on in 40 yeaars.s. Ms. Timea just Ms. Timea just foorggot to t to mentionention that. Shat. She’s’s ssurely not tryely not tryingg too sprspread feaad fear and neganegative emive emotiontions,, right? But wight? But we’re’re not not madd at Ms. Tiat Ms. Timeea, and we’, and we’re sen sendinging her hearher heartss all all the way frway fromm Stupava #wStupava #windofchdofchangge *
Moderating the discussion wasn’t the Crisis Team’s only contribution. As part of the collaboration, we also monitored media mentions and forwarded the client only the relevant ones. As it turned out, of several hundred mentions, fewer than a hundred actually required the client’s attention. Assuming the client would have spent just 5 minutes on each irrelevant mention, our Crisis Team saved them almost 40 hours – a full working week.
* MENTION MONITORING
FILTERING RELEVANT NEWS
Relevant mentions 16,7%
Filtered-out mentions 83,3% *
Summary
Social media and artificial intelligence are fertile ground for spreading disinformation and hoaxes. Protecting a brand’s good name is harder in this environment than it used to be. That’s why New School Communications has a dedicated team that specializes in handling these challenges, delivering our clients not just a tailored service, but measurable results too.
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