Russia is seeking to influence the outcome of several key elections in European countries this year with
fake news, a special task force set up by the European Union has warned.
The EU is reportedly allocating more funds to its East StratCom task force to counter the
disinformation, amid fears Russia will target elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands
“There is an enormous, far-reaching, at least partly organized, disinformation campaign against the EU, its politicians and its principles,” a source close to the task force told Germany’s Spiegel magazine.
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It is “highly likely” Russia will try to influence European elections “as it did in the US”, the source said.
The number one target is
Angela Merkel, who has been subjected to a “bombardment” of fake news over her refugee policy and support for economic sanctions against Russia.
Disinformation is “part of state policy” and a “military tool” for the Kremlin”.
A report by US intelligence agencies earlier this month found that
Vladimir Putin personally “ordered an influence campaign aimed at the presidential election”.
German chancellor Angela Merkel CREDIT: REX/SHUTTERSTOCK/PATRIC FOUAD
German intelligence warned last year that Russian hackers may seek to influence the country’s elections in September.
But
fears are now growing over the effect of fake news, after a completely
false story spread claiming that Germany’s oldest church had been burnt down by 1,000 Muslims chanting Allahu Akbar.
East StratCom, set up by the EU in 2015 to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation, says it has already found evidence of a massive fake news campaign targetting European countries.
The unit’s experts found more than 2,500 examples of “stories directly contradicting public facts” in 18 different languages over just 15 months.
The stories were repeated on a daily basis and reproduced in multiple languages.
Fake news stories uncovered by the task force range from conspiracy theories over
who shot down Flight MH17 over Ukraine to claims the EU is planning to ban snowmen as “racist”.
They also include a fake terror video threatening attacks in the
Netherlands if the country supported an EU association agreement with Ukraine.
Russia has been accused of launching an "influence campaign" to help Donald Trump defeat Hilary Clinton in the 2016 US election
“There is no doubt that the pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign is an orchestrated strategy,” the task force, which is part of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service, says on its website.
“The aim of this disinformation campaign is to weaken and destabilise the West, by exploiting existing divisions or creating artificial new ones.
“Often, outright lies are deployed, aimed at denigrating a particular person, political group or government.
“Another strategy is to spread as many conflicting messages as possible, in order to persuade the audience that there are so many versions of events that it is impossible to find the truth.”
James Clapper, US director of National Intelligence, said only Russia's most senior officials could have authorized the data theft and leaks that took place during the 2016 election CREDIT: ANDREW HARRER/ © 2017 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP
The Czech counter intelligence service said in a 2015 report the goal of Kremlin disinformation is to “weaken society's will for resistance or confrontation”.
Most Russian disinformation in the EU is spread by "domestic actors" who independently repeat talking points that first appear on Russian state news outlets because it suits them ideologically, said Jakub Janda, a deputy director of the European Values think tank in Prague, which monitors suspected Russian disinformation efforts and works closely with the EU task force.
He singled out
Milos Zeman, the Eurosceptic president of the Czech republic, as an example of a high-ranking European politician who “copy pastes Russian messaging and helps Russian foreign policy by repeating its talking points on Syria and Ukraine”.
The EEAS is reportedly reallocating funds to East StratCom to counter the threat from within its existing budget, after member states rejected a proposal to boost its funding by €800,000 (£689,000) last year.
A spokesman for the EEAS said the funding was part of a “general reorganisation of the budget”.
The five types of fake news
Stories classified as fake news can generally be put into five categories, as experts try to develop a way of warning readers what they may be encountering.
1. Intentionally deceptive
These are news stories created entirely to deceive readers. The 2016 US election was rife with examples claiming that “x celebrity has endorsed Donald Trump”, when that was not the case.
2. Jokes taken at face value
Humour sites such as the Onion or Daily Mash present fake news stories in order to satirise the media. Issues can arise when readers see the story out of context and share it with others.
3. Large-scale hoaxes
Deceptions that are then reported in good faith by reputable news sources. A recent example would be the story that the founder of Corona beer made everyone in his home village a millionaire in his will.
4. Slanted reporting of real facts
Selectively-chosen but truthful elements of a story put together to serve an agenda. One of the most prevalent examples of this is the PR-driven science or nutrition story, such as 'x thing you thought was unhealthy is actually good for you'.
5. Stories where the ‘truth’ is contentious
On issues where ideologies or opinions clash - for example, territorial conflicts - there is sometimes no established baseline for truth. Reporters may be unconsciously partisan, or perceived as such.
Reference:
Deception Detection for News, University of Western Ontario