Unmasking the EU: Baltic states and Poland accused of Russophobia and not dealing with COVID-19

Throughout December, Debunk EU analysts reviewed 6,008 articles, 1,151 of which contained false and misleading information. They appeared in 96 outlets in English, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian. It is estimated that the articles analyzed reached 355.6 million. contact audience.

According to Laima Venclauskienė, chief analyst at Debunk EU, in December the influence of the main newsgroups – messages and / or articles – on the narratives was noticed. COVID-19 was the main subject of misleading / fake articles in Poland, where the country’s authorities tightened the quarantine and assisted in vaccination in December.

Negative information about the Baltic states and Poland spread through their alleged interference in the internal politics of Belarus when President Alexander Lukashenko was “re-elected.” In addition to these issues, the narrative that human rights are violated in the Baltic States, especially Latvia and Estonia, was mentioned. The Baltic states were presented as Russophobic and accused of deliberately creating the image of Russia as a hostile state.

“One event had a particularly significant impact on the spread of misleading information and disinformation in Latvia and, to a lesser extent, in Estonia.” The repercussions of the arrest of seven journalists from Baltnews and Sputnik led to the dissemination of problematic information from state officials Russians, including the lips of President Vladimir Putin, “L. Venclauskienė said in the press release.

December 3 The Latvian State Security Service has launched an investigation into the actions of seven people in and around Riga. Journalists have been accused of violating international sanctions. The detained journalists are linked to the EU-sanctioned Dmitry Kiseliov, who runs Rossija Segodnia (RT), a website that helped promote the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Pro-Kremlin media described the journalists’ actions as a burgeoning Russophobia in Latvia and a crackdown on freedom of expression.

As the Russian version of the RT portal wrote in early December, “apparently, in an effort to clear the media space of alternative sources of information, here they are ready to go beyond all imaginable limits. Won’t Latvia receive an adequate response from international partners and organizations this time too? “- December 4th. The statement from the Russian Embassy in Latvia was quoted by RT.

Latvia’s Foreign Ministry noted that according to the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, Latvia ranks 25th and Russia 149th out of 180.

Events in Latvia also led to the narrative of Estonia as a Russian state in the pro-Kremlin media. The case of Latvia recalled the 2019 events related to Sputnik In Estonia.

As of December 7. Baltnews wrote: “The persecution of Russian journalists in the Baltic countries is becoming an unjust tradition, marking the end of the next calendar year. Last year the example was shown in Estonia, this year it was used by Latvia. “

Kremlin-related digital media sources linked events in Latvia and Estonia and used it to spread misinformation that Russian-speaking journalists are being systematically persecuted in the Baltic countries.

According to Debunk EU analysts, the spread of false and false information in Lithuania was stimulated by two themes. Disinformation about Belarus continues to spread, beginning with accusations that Lithuania is interfering in the country’s internal politics and promoting a “color revolution” that opposes the operations of the Astrava nuclear power plant to the point of alleged irrationality.

One of the stories was born about the Lithuanian and EU sanctions on Belarus: “They only plan to discuss restrictive measures, but it is already clear how stupid it is,” says commentator Sergei Perepelitsa. […] According to him, if Belaruskali withdraws its cargo from Lithuania, the Klaipeda port can “hang the lock” and “bury everything” on December 14. wrote lt.sputniknews.ru.

In December, the Lithuanian authorities considered imposing sanctions on the Belarusian potash fertilizer producer Belaruskali, which is said to be a source of strong Lukashenko currency. Such planned actions provided the pro-Kremlin media with “proof” that the main driving force behind Lithuanian politics was irrationality. It was claimed that the Lithuanian government was willing to sacrifice the economy and well-being of the country’s population to implement “inappropriate political ambitions”.

Poland, meanwhile, stood out among all countries in the context of misleading / fake news about COVID-19, both in terms of mentions and audience reach. These narratives also received the most attention on social media.

According to L. Venclauskienė, the number of articles related to COVID-19 in Poland has increased due to additional restrictions announced in early December and the start of vaccination in late December.

“Due to the acquisition of a ‘dangerous’ vaccine and the overestimated effect of COVID-19, because it was too strict, Poland was portrayed as an irrational country,” notes L. Venclauskienė.

One of the articles was about the widespread conspiracy theory about vaccines. He claimed that coronavirus vaccines cause autism, brain damage, and even death.

“If vaccines prevent infectious diseases, why do all the statistical and epidemiological charts show that infectious diseases usually disappear after two or three generations before a particular vaccine is introduced?”

In December the most misleading and false articles were published on the website sputnik.ru – accounted for almost a fifth of all articles examined. The Polish portals were the ones that grew the most neon24.pl Y nczas.com The proportion of articles is 4.7%, respectively. up to 9.3 percent. and 2.6 percent. up to 9.2 percent.

Looking at the implicit audience for the articles, he remained the leader ria.ru. In November, false / misleading articles on this website accounted for a quarter of all texts, and in December, 36.3 percent. It is estimated that the 33 articles detected reached 113 million. contact audience.

The study of disinformation in the Baltic countries and Poland was carried out by a group of analysts from Debunk EU: boss. analyst in Lithuania L.Venclauskienė, boss. Estonian analyst Enel Ehrenhaft, boss. Latvian analyst Kristine Skujina-Troksa and head. analyst in Poland Magdalena Wilczyńska.

Data for the organization’s investigation is collected using the Debunk EU platform, as well as CrowdTangle (a Facebook-owned tool that tracks public content interactions of Facebook pages and groups, verified profiles, Instagram accounts, and Reddit pages). The Truly Media platform, designed to help journalists verify digital content, and TruthNest, a Twitter data analysis platform, were also used.

Debunk EU is an initiative that brings together the public, the media, and the state to combat fake news that confuses and undermines trust in the country. The initiative has received attention and funding from Google, the world’s largest search engine, as well as media giants such as The Financial Times and Deutsche Welle. The organization has presented its activities in 17 countries, including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Serbia.