It represented a collaboration between media outlets, technology experts, strategic communication departments within government institutions, and an army of volunteers known as "elves."

[8] Debunk.org uses artificial intelligence algorithms to autonomously scan thousands of online news articles, flagging content which may represent the potential spread of disinformation.

[8][10] Examples of the domains which it tracks include Russian state outlets such as Sputnik and RT as well as lesser known entities like news-front.info, which are sites operated on a "volunteer" basis.

[12][13] The organisation consists of over 50 volunteers, referred to as "elves,"[7] who contribute to its disinformation monitoring operations by manually rating the potential threat of the flagged content.

It is calculated for every single article taking into account SimilarWeb traffic, Alexa rating, backlinks and social media interactions (reactions, shares and comments).

[14] The scale allows researchers to comparatively measure the impact of an influence operation and identify whether it is increasing or decreasing in magnitude to aid the prioritisation of resources and coordinate a more efficient response.

Its research and analysis work is underpinned by a network of volunteers, known as Elves, with expertise in foreign affairs, cybersecurity, IT, economics, environmental protection and related fields.

[6] The base of volunteers originally began as an organic, autonomous, community initiative in response to the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, involving clashes between protesters and the security forces of the Russian-backed Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, in Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv.

Before joining the project all candidates are screened through an interview process, must sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and complete a disinformation analysis training course developed by Debunk.org.