Russia sought to use social media to influence EU vote

[struggle4progress]

about 19 hours ago

European authorities blamed Russian groups on Friday for disinformation campaigns designed to depress turnout and sway public opinion in last month’s European Union elections.

The preliminary review by the European Commission and the bloc’s foreign policy and security arm found that Russian-linked groups and other nonstate actors had worked to undermine credibility in the European Union through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Officials said new regulations might be needed to force internet platforms to do more to stop the spread of deliberately false information.

“The evidence collected revealed a continued and sustained disinformation activity by Russian sources aiming to suppress turnout and influence voter preferences,” the report said. The report was the first official substantiation by the European Commission of the role that Russians and other groups played in disinformation in the May elections, which many investigators, academics and advocacy groups had warned about. It was a reminder of how active Russians and others continue to be in spreading divisive content online to inflame and stoke electorates all over the world, a strategy that the Kremlin had pioneered in the 2016 US presidential election ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-sought-to-use-social-media-to-influence-eu-vote-report-finds-1.3927174

[struggle4progress]

1. EU says Russian groups meddled in elections

by Adam Satariano
The New York Times
Today at 2:12 a.m.

... "The evidence collected revealed a continued and sustained disinformation activity by Russian sources aiming to suppress turnout and influence voter preferences," the report said.

The report was the first official substantiation by the European Commission of the role that Russians and other groups played in disinformation in the May elections, which many investigators, academics and advocacy groups had warned about. It was a reminder of how active Russians and others continue to be in spreading divisive content online to inflame and stoke electorates all over the world, a strategy that the Kremlin had pioneered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Since then, Facebook, Twitter and others have vowed to clamp down on foreign interference and have worked on new technology and other methods to stop outside meddling during elections. But the report Friday highlighted how much work the platforms still needed to do to stay a step ahead of disinformation networks. The report also has implications for American officials ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with an increasing number of smaller, harder-to-detect domestic groups adopting Russia-like strategies to influence voters.

"The genie's out of the bottle," said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab who has been tracking disinformation efforts in Europe. "What we've seen over the past few years is an increasing number of actors, both state and nonstate, using similar methods online to interfere in democratic processes" ...

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2019/jun/15/eu-says-russian-groups-meddled-in-elect/

[struggle4progress]

2. EU says 'Russian sources' tried to undermine European vote

By LACHLAN CARMICHAEL
Today, 8:52 am

... “The number of disinformation cases attributed to Russian sources … doubled as compared to the same period a year ago,” King said, highlighting a report by European Commission investigators ...

The British commissioner also said Russian sources, without identifying them, suggested French President Emmanuel Macron wants to expel some countries from the EU.

He also said a fake Twitter account allegedly linked to Russia has spread false information that the EU has Nazi roots ...

https://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-says-russian-sources-tried-to-undermine-european-vote/

[struggle4progress]

3. 'Russian sources' targeted EU elections with disinformation

By ESZTER ZALAN
BRUSSELS, 14. JUN, 17:32

The EU commission said on Friday (14 June) that "Russian sources" had carried out sustained disinformation efforts to suppress turnout and influence voter preferences during the elections to the European Parliament last month.

Bots and fake accounts linked to Russian sources challenged the EU's democratic legitimacy and aimed to radicalise political discourse, with EU officials identifying over a thousand cases.

"The evidence collected revealed a continued and sustained disinformation activity by Russian sources aiming to suppress turnout and influence voter preferences," the commission's report said.

"There was a consistent trend of malicious actors using disinformation to promote extreme views and polarise local debates, including through unfounded attacks on the EU," it added ...

https://euobserver.com/political/145166

[struggle4progress]

4. Pro-Kremlin media 'spread false claims that EU has Nazi roots'

Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Fri 14 Jun 2019 10.49 EDT Last modified on Fri 14 Jun 2019 12.30 EDT

... Although there were no “spectaculars” such as the major email hacks that tarnished the 2016 US presidential election, social media accounts promoting a pro-Russian narrative were active in amplifying divisive content on the internet, King said.

Countries targeted by bots and fake accounts in the run-up to the elections at the end of May included the UK, Poland, Latvia, Spain and France.


King said: “There was an issue in Poland where false reports by [the Russian state news agency] Sputnik, which – let’s be polite, let’s call it as pro-Kremlin outfit – was reporting that the EU had made Poland poorer than it was under communism ...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/pro-kremlin-media-spread-false-eu-nazi-roots-european-elections

[struggle4progress]

5. EU Probe Finds 'Continued, Sustained' Online Disinformation By 'Russian Sources'

... The European Commission report follows preelection warnings from Brussels to EU countries and social-media companies like Facebook and Twitter to guard against possible "fake news" from Russia.

Malign activities noted in the report ranged from challenging the EU's democratic legitimacy to exploiting divisive debates on issues like migration.

It cited the example of the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was used by malicious actors "to illustrate the alleged decline of Western and Christian values in the EU" ...

https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-probe-finds-continued-sustained-online-disinformation-by-russian-sources-/29999685.html

[empedocles]

6. Thank you so much for your so important efforts here.

Hopefully there will be no 'spectaculars' found or huge victories by putin.

Please do keep us apprised.

[OnDoutside]

7. The big issue is what they are going to do about it ?