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Module 2 — Inoculation Training

Detection tells you what's hitting your population. Training builds the population that can resist it.

Retelnist's training module is a scenario-based inoculation engine that teaches your audience to recognize manipulation techniques before they encounter them — calibrated to the actual retellings our Detection module sees on your population, anchored in peer-reviewed inoculation theory, measured with research-grade resilience instruments.

Built on Talantir — our scenario simulation engine for high-stakes behavioral training. Content sourced from real DISARM-tagged retellings in your information environment.

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The training thesis

Train the audience to recognize the retelling

Adversaries don't run one operation. They retell the same patterns across narratives, across platforms, across years. A population that recognizes the pattern of a retelling defeats not just one operation but the operator's whole playbook.

This is what Retelnist's training module is for: teaching populations to see the retelling for what it is, before it works on them.

The problem with traditional media literacy

It teaches people to evaluate content after they see it. Adversarial retellings are designed to bypass evaluation by exploiting emotional response, identity coupling, and platform velocity. By the time a target evaluates, they've already shared.

The inoculation alternative

Six decades of psychological research, starting with McGuire's 1961 work and validated by van der Linden, Roozenbeek, Lewandowsky, and others. A small, controlled exposure to a manipulation technique builds resistance to a full-strength version later.

Weeks–months

Resistance duration per technique

Generalizes

Across topics after technique training

Field-tested

BBC, UK GCS, EU DisinfoLab

Decays

Without boosters — 4–6 weeks

How it works

Four design principles

  1. 01

    Content sourced from real retellings

    Scenarios are not generic. Every scenario is built from actual DISARM-tagged retellings Retelnist's detection module observed targeting your population in the last 90 days. Anonymized. Ethically reviewed. Calibrated to safe exposure level.

    In practice

    If "biolabs" is what's hitting your population this quarter, your training is about biolabs — not a textbook hypothetical.

  2. 02

    Branching simulation, not lectures

    Each scenario is a decision tree. The learner is placed inside a retelling scenario as an active participant — sometimes as a target, sometimes as an analyst, sometimes as a counter-communicator. They make choices. Wrong choices reveal the technique. Right choices reinforce resistance.

    In practice

    No videos to skip. No multiple-choice quizzes. Decision tree, real consequences, measurable behavioral signal.

  3. 03

    Pre/post measurement with research-grade instruments

    Every scenario carries instruments adapted from the inoculation literature: technique recognition accuracy, calibration of trust judgments, shareability reduction in a simulated feed.

    In practice

    Not "did the learner enjoy the course" metrics. Resilience signals you can defend in a research-grade audit.

  4. 04

    Adaptive boosters

    Inoculation effect decays in 4–6 weeks without reinforcement. Retelnist automatically schedules short (2–4 minute) booster scenarios calibrated to the techniques each learner showed weakness on.

    In practice

    Most LMS platforms deploy training once and report completion. Retelnist deploys continuously and reports resilience.

Scenario library

What scenarios actually look like

Examples drawn from the active scenario library, calibrated to Ukrainian and broader EU information environments. Custom scenarios for specific deployments are developed per engagement.

UA context

The Mobilization Retelling

~12 minFoundational

The learner enters a Telegram channel where a coordinated retelling is unfolding: five posts, all variants of "TCK [draft offices] are criminal structures hunting people," arriving over 30 minutes from accounts with similar handles. The learner must identify which is organic, which is amplified, which is fabricated.

Techniques covered

T0049.003 — Bots AmplifyT0091 — Recruit Bad ActorsT0086 — Doctored Images

Post-test

Learner shown a new retelling on an unrelated topic. Can they spot the same pattern?

UA / EU context

The Biolabs Pattern

~15 minIntermediate

The learner traces an actual retelling arc as it unfolded between 2022 and 2026: original seeding → amplification through fake-expert accounts → cross-platform jump (Telegram → X → Western alt-media) → repackaging by domestic political actors. The learner reconstructs the timeline backwards, identifies seed nodes, recognizes the template.

Techniques covered

Cross-platform jump tracingFake-expert account patternsStructural template recognition

Post-test

Presented with an emerging narrative on an unrelated topic — can the learner spot the same structural template?

EU context

The Sanctions Sentiment Shift

~10 minIntermediate

The learner sees a series of pro-EU posts about Russia sanctions over six weeks, with sentiment shifting from "sanctions are working" to "sanctions backfire" to "sanctions hurt us more than Russia." Is this organic public opinion shift, or orchestrated retelling? The learner uses Retelnist's Layer A tools — coordination signals, account age distributions, DISARM-tag density — to identify which shifts are organic and which are engineered.

Techniques covered

Coordination signal analysisAccount age distributionsDISARM-tag density review

Post-test

Learner classifies a new sentiment shift — organic or engineered?

UA context · leadership-level

The Negotiation Frame

~15 minAdvanced

A senior communications officer faces a sudden surge of "Negotiations are the only rational path" content across Ukrainian Telegram, including channels that previously read pro-Ukrainian. Four hours until press briefing. Decision tree: investigate further, push counter-retelling now, do nothing, escalate to political leadership? Each branch shows real consequences.

Techniques covered

Attribution cautionPacing instinct under pressureLayer A intelligence integration

Post-test

Learner builds pacing instinct for real-time decision-making under adversarial pressure.

EU corporate / public sector

The Doctored Quote

~8 minFoundational

The learner receives what appears to be a quote from a credible source, in their organizational chat, with normal social context cues. Verify, share, escalate, ignore? Wrong choices teach how social proof and source-mimicry exploit busy attention.

Techniques covered

Source-mimicry recognitionSocial proof exploitationVerification instinct

Post-test

Learner shown a new out-of-context quote in a different professional context. Same instinct?

Who uses it

Four buyer profiles

Ministries of Communications

Train the civil servants who face retellings daily

Generic media literacy doesn't move the needle. Inoculation against the specific techniques being deployed in your information environment does. Your civil servants, journalists, and public-facing officials need scenarios calibrated to current adversary doctrine.

Military StratCom Units

Current techniques, updated weekly

Information warfare is now standard adversary doctrine. Your StratCom operators, psyops analysts, and information-environment commanders need scenario-based training calibrated to current adversary techniques, not last decade's. Update cycle: weekly, sourced from Retelnist's Detection module.

Public Broadcasters & Newsrooms

A journalist who recognizes the pattern disrupts it

Journalists are both targets and force-multipliers. A journalist who falls for a coordinated retelling amplifies it to their audience. Retelnist trains recognition, not editorial judgment — the distinction matters for editorial independence.

Civic NGOs & Journalism Schools

Research-grade metrics your funders can read

Your funders want measurable outcomes. Retelnist gives you research-grade resilience metrics — pre/post technique recognition, calibrated trust judgments, shareability reduction. EU data sovereignty. Compliant with EDMO and DSA reporting frameworks.

Deployment

How Retelnist deploys into your environment

  1. Hosted SaaS

    EU-region only (Hetzner Helsinki / Scaleway Paris). Default deployment. Multi-tenant with strict org isolation.

  2. White-labeled instance

    For ministries with brand and policy requirements. Custom domain, custom branding, audit-log export.

  3. LMS integration

    SCORM 1.2 / xAPI export for organizations running Cornerstone, Docebo, SAP SuccessFactors. Full xAPI behavioral telemetry.

  4. Reseller terms

    For journalism schools, civic training organizations, and capacity-building programs.

  5. Custom scenario development

    For operational contexts not covered in the standard library. Scoped per engagement.

What Retelnist measures

  • Pre-test → scenario → post-test on every deployment
  • Longitudinal re-test at 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 26 weeks (with booster comparison)
  • Cohort-level resilience metrics aggregated; individual learner data subject to organizational policy
  • Closed-loop with Detection module: V-shift on targeted propositions compared between trained and untrained cohorts where ethically permissible

Ethics

  • All scenarios reviewed by Ethics Advisory Board before deployment
  • Adversary content used in training is anonymized and stripped of real-account identifiers
  • Learners are informed they are being trained; no deceptive deployment
  • No dark-pattern inoculation against legitimate political speech — scenarios target retelling techniques, not viewpoints
  • Organizational policy on individual learner data is the client's; Retelnist provides tools, not surveillance

Underlying research

McGuire (1961) · van der Linden & Roozenbeek (2020, 2022) · Lewandowsky et al. (2017, 2021) · Compton (2013, 2020) · Roozenbeek et al. video-intervention scaling studies

Full methodology brief →

Request a verified briefing

Training engagements start with operational context

We need to understand what your population is being targeted with, what your existing training program looks like, and what measurement framework your organization expects.

The briefing call covers

01Your current information-environment threat picture (or our assessment of it)
02Which Retelnist scenarios map to your population's exposure profile
03What custom scenarios would be needed for full coverage
04Realistic resilience outcomes for your cohort size and exposure cadence
05Deployment options that fit your IT and policy environment
Request a verified briefing →training@retelnist.com

Pilot deployment

From €15k–€40k

500–2000 seats · 3 months · full instrumentation + resilience report

Annual seat license

€150–€400 / seat

Volume discounts · content updates included

NGO / Academic

Discounted

Verified non-commercial · EDMO-compliant

Custom scenarios

Per-scope

Design, ethics review, and validation included