Infoguerre

When objective reality refuses to bend to the Kremlin’s will, Kremlin propagandists attempt to substitute it with their illusions. In last week’s iteration of Disinfo Review, we covered the Kremlin information manipulation ecosystem’s habit of staying mum about topics that they do not have clear instructions on, or that they wish to stay away from the limelight. This week, though, it seems that the Kremlin disinformation peddlers have received a clearer set of instructions to follow. like true gamblers, Kremlin minions are hedging their bets. […]

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine made Kazakhstan realise its own identity… In an interview with EUvsDiSiNFO, Vyacheslav Abramov says « if you speak only Russian, you will be a target for disinformation and propaganda. If you speak Kazakh and Russian, you will start questioning some messages you see in Russian. If you also speak English, you will start questioning more and more, so you will be able to think more critically about the information that you are getting. Unfortunately, many Kazakh media outlets were influenced by Russian media before the war. For many of them Russian media were the main source of information and Russian content was just translated into Kazakh.» […]

The Kremlin disinformation machine tiptoes around sore topics and recycles old conspiracy theories about biolabs and human organ smuggling to distract the world. But the Kremlin’s relative silence about recent events still speaks volumes. It has been a busy few weeks for the Kremlin. From the revamp of historic Soviet Luna missions to the moon, to the demise of Prigozhin, to the first post-pandemic, in-person BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, there were plenty of events that the Kremlin’s disinformation peddlers could have latched on to in order to distract the world from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. […]

Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets waste no time to use the burning of the Quran in Sweden and Denmark to sling accusations of religious intolerance. Portraying Russia as the protector of Islam diverges from previous disinformation attempts to vilify Muslims and push the narrative of ‘Islamisation’ of Europe… When small groups of provocateurs and far-right activists in Sweden and Denmark recently gathered to burn pages of the Quran, they were exploiting a long-standing question among democratic governments: what is protected speech, and when can it be restricted? Resolving such a dilemma requires the utmost sensitivity, fairness, and tact. […]

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, women have been at the forefront of Russia’s anti-war movement. Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR) has successfully rallied women across the country and declared itself a new political force. EUvsDisinfo spoke to FAR coordinator Liliia Vezhevatova about the role of feminism n times of war and how the group is working to break the “information blockade” in Russia. It’s clear that resistance won’t stop the war, but it can hasten its end by working with Russian citizens, including by providing them with information about what’s really happening. […]

AI will have all kinds of effects on our societies in the years to come. We are already feeling some of these effects – for example, the use of AI text or image generators in the creative field and elsewhere – but we can only guess at many more. EUvsDisinfo focuses on the interaction between AI and the manipulation of information. Interview with AI ethicist Dr Benjamin Lange on the threats posed by AI to disinformation and the possible solutions it offers to mitigate these risks. Will we or won’t we tomorrow be overwhelmed by a flood of disinformation generated by AI? That’s the question! […]

Like a magician trying to trick spectators, the Kremlin has engaged many manipulation techniques to explain its bombardments of Ukraine, belittle international talks in Jeddah, and try to confuse the public with a spree of smear campaigns and plain lies. It may be hard to keep pumping out alternative versions of reality but the Kremlin machine keeps trying, as demonstrated during last week. It has come up with stories to explain why the Russian military choses continued attacks on Ukrainian grain storage facilities, harbours, carefully selected medical facilities and civilian residential areas to maximise casualties. […]

Manipulate the Infosphere, repress the People, and build a cult to Lukashenka! It is now three years since Belarusian authorities manipulated, rigged and falsified the 9 August 2020 presidential elections in that country. This rampant electoral chicanery led to arguably the largest protests in Belarus in living memory and gathered people together from all backgrounds. Footage and pictures of Belarusians in the hundreds of thousands protesting spread on social media. A shaken Lukashenka received backing from Moscow to crack down with unspoken brutality and force on ordinary people of Belarus. And repression is not slowing down! […]

Despite the summer being in full swing, pro-Kremlin information manipulation operators do not seem to be getting any time off this year. As Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine is not really going to the Kremlin’s plan at all, Russia’s government is on a charm offensive to convince the world that war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. Last week, the Kremlin hosted the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg with just 17 heads of African states present, down from 43 last time. The recent summit was a follow-up to the first one held in Sochi, Russia back in 2019. […]