Russian disinformation campaign has been ‘extremely successful’ in Europe, warns EU

[Independent voter]

Syria's Assad a Shia drove Syrian Sunnis out of Syria and into the EU like cattle. In exchange Putin protected Assad's tiny faction by sending Russian troops into Syria.

The Brexit vote was very close, you can't tell me that concern about all those refugees didn't swing the Brexit vote in favor of "leave the EU".

That and this propaganda campaign.




http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a8164526.html

An “orchestrated” propaganda campaign by the Russian government has been “extremely successful” at spreading disinformation throughout the European Union, the European Commission has warned.

Julian King, the Commission’s security chief, said the EU had identified “3,500 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation contradicting publicly available facts repeated in many languages on many occasions”.

Mr King said the Russian military viewed information as “another type of armed force” and that the EU would unveil a new strategy for combating fake news in the spring of 2018.


“There seems, frankly, little doubt, that the pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign is an orchestrated strategy – delivering the same disinformation stories in as many languages as possible, through as many channels as possible, as often as possible,” Mr King told MEPs at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“We have to remain vigilant. The purpose of a disinformation campaign is to get people to believe that the disinformation is fact, is credible. If we look at opinion polls measuring how many people accept obviously disinformation planted in pro-Kremlin media, then unfortunately we have to conclude that Russian disinformation can be extremely successful.”

MEPs discussed the issue of Russian disinformation on Wednesday afternoon in a two-hour debate. Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian politician and vice chair of the European Parliament’s largest group, the centre-right European People’s Party, said the EU needed to step up its efforts and increase funding to its cybersecurity taskforce.

“Given the political dynamics in Washington, European states will have to take the lead in any collective action vis-à-vis the Kremlin and setting international rules for cyberspace,” she said, alluding the US president Donald Trump’s alleged links to the Russian government.

Ms Kalniete said societies needed to be made “more resilient” through transparency and increased regulation, also blaming the rise of Facebook and social media for the effectiveness of propaganda.

“The world’s richest and most powerful publisher, Facebook, has replaced editors with algorism – shifting societies away from critical thinking whilst making billions from our clicks,” she said.

“I am convinced that quality journalism should be supported by the governments, including the EU, because otherwise it will disappear and leave us at the mercy of the Kremlin and other trolls who have learned how to play the social media game.”


A number of MEPs mentioned the UK’s Brexit referendum as being a possible victim of disinformation. Jeppe Kofod, a socialist MEP from Denmark, suggested that the 2019 European Parliament elections would likely be interfered with.

“Next year the citizens of Europe will elect a new European Parliament. This raises an uncomfortable question: how many seats will Russia get?” he said.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, Russian meddling in democratic elections is no longer the exception, it is becoming the norm. From the US presidential election to Brexit, the hands of the Kremlin have been busy dancing along keyboards, spreading disinformation – the full extent of which is yet to be understood by all of us.”

Gerard Batten, Ukip MEP and Brexit spokesperson said he believed that “Mr Putin is a gangster who runs a gangster state.”

But he added: “You are seeking to create a scapegoat for your own unpopularity with the people’s of Europe. Don’t blame the Russians for your own mistakes.”

He described Russian disinformation as “a distraction” and accused the EU of being “the authors of your own unpopularity”.

[Elim Garak]

Obviously Kremlin paid OP to post this and EU commision to say what they've said.

[Stelio Kontos]

Wrong in the first sentence.

Assad is not a Shi'ite. He's an Alawite. They're an offshoot of Shi'a at most. Some don't even consider them Muslim, let alone Shi'ite. I won't touch on the rest of this, but I had to point that out about Assad.

[Kreo]

This article with "he said she said" is sure proof this is not disinformation.
Everything bad in your life is Russian trolls doing, not corrupt politician.
EU politician would never mislead or meddle in other countries affairs, nether push their respective countries interests above anyone else.
Anyone who doesn't agree with you is a commi and paid troll.

[Deleted]

Syria's Assad a Shia drove Syrian Sunnis out of Syria and into the EU like cattle. In exchange Putin protected Assad's tiny faction by sending Russian troops into Syria.

What about libya. Did he drive people from there too.

[Mormolyce]

This is quite simply a war on the truth. The internet has connected us all together, including connecting us to police states run by KGB tactics who try to poison the well to advance their own agenda. They are now taking the tactics they use to control their own populations global.

[Shalcker]

What about libya. Did he drive people from there too.

He insidiously didn't veto no-flight-zone there (while not being President at the time and also criticising that in media), and thus obviously complicit!

[Mormolyce]

I was tempted to say "Shalcker post in 3... 2... 1..." but decided against it. What a missed opportunity.

[turboether]

Suppressing truth is in vogue. In modern politics it's quite easy to see how disillusion can set in and be easily reinforced by peers, and in a connected world those peers can come from anywhere on the planet at great volumes. Declining trust in media and politicians lead people to frustration, and it can obviously have extreme results, especially when concern is vilified to such a great degree. Simply blaming Russia for the result as if they masterminded the whole thing is short-sighted conspiracy theory at best, though there's little doubt they have raised their own voice to reinforce mistrust that was already there.

[Xarkan]

A number of MEPs mentioned the UK’s Brexit referendum as being a possible victim of disinformation. Jeppe Kofod, a socialist MEP from Denmark, suggested that the 2019 European Parliament elections would likely be interfered with.

“Next year the citizens of Europe will elect a new European Parliament. This raises an uncomfortable question: how many seats will Russia get?” he said.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, Russian meddling in democratic elections is no longer the exception, it is becoming the norm. From the US presidential election to Brexit, the hands of the Kremlin have been busy dancing along keyboards, spreading disinformation – the full extent of which is yet to be understood by all of us.”

If they dont realize he is a social democrat not a 'socialist' can we trust they even know what he said?

Edit: I am aware that the political group is S&D so socialists and democrats but the particular person is a social democrat and not a socialist

[Deleted]

Syria's Assad a Shia drove Syrian Sunnis out of Syria and into the EU like cattle. In exchange Putin protected Assad's tiny faction by sending Russian troops into Syria.

The Brexit vote was very close, you can't tell me that concern about all those refugees didn't swing the Brexit vote in favor of "leave the EU".

”.

You are clueless. Syrian Army is Majority Sunni
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Armed_Forces

US, EU and the Gulf states where arming Terrorists by any definition of the word, between suicide bombings, beheading children and eating human flesh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nour_a...Zenki_Movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouBzc6gNPf8
https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0c9_1368347673

The "Peaceful Proteresters" that we were told by our media where chanting from almost the get go about religious cleansing of Syria. "Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the grave"
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/05/s...-to-the-coffin

In fact the "moderates" were a whitewash scheme even for Isis and Al Qaeda from day 1
Heres a person from Moderate Al Qaeda in Syria right before sending his 7 yo daughters to die as suicide bombers
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7496436.html

Even Hillary was getting assured that "Al Qaeda is on our side" in Syria as early as 2012.Care to explain as an American, what exactly is Al Qaeda to you?
http://theduran.com/wikileaks-drops-...side-in-syria/
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status...380738?lang=el
The sender of this email, Jake Sullivan, was a "policy maker" and "senior policy advisor", for Hillarys campaign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Sullivan

Even good old CNN hired Al Qaeda terrorists
https://www.salon.com/2017/07/09/cnn...racks_partner/
in their effort to whitewash Al Qaeda
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/08/0...-and-al-qaeda/

Last and certainly not least, BBC journalist, Jonathan Pie, losing his shit and telling the news as it should be.He starts with, surprisingly, Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syjp9lsWBhc

But of course its the Russians.You are from Reno, stick to gambling.

[Deleted]

And then there's Yemen US allied to Saudi-Arabia that supports Al Qaeda ground troops there...

Hey Hubcap, how does it feel to fondle the balls of al qaida that blew up the twin towers on 9/11

[yetgdhfgh]

First off i dont have a twitter or a facebook so its unlikely they will ever influence my vote in that way but its not like they ever could any way!

Most of my views regarding politics have been crafted long before Putin was even heard of.

[Deleted]

I need to get on the ticket for the EU parliament. I'm totally open to bribes from Russia.

[Deleted]

Muh Russia - Europe edition.

Maybe people just dont like the shitty policies they force on everyone?

Nah, its Russia.

[Graeham]

I guess 'Russia' is the scapegoat for any political outcome that that certain bureaucrats and politicians happen to dislike. The backlash against the EU has been present across much of the United Kingdom for quite some time now - the way the refugee crisis was handled just happened to be the rather hefty straw that broke the camel's back.

[BadguyNotBadGuy]

Refugees couldnt vote in the Brexit vote.
The british government did a lot more to misinform the the public about the consequences of brexit than anyone else.
Add on top of that the people who were completely ignorant or who didnt care, and BLAM you get a positive brexit vote.

Believing that even a single nation from the worlds 'powers' does not engage in disinformation both at home and in its 'rival' states is straight up sillyness. this has been happening for decades all over the world.

[Thoughtful Trolli]

The purpose of a disinformation campaign is to get people to believe that the disinformation is fact, is credible..

It's too late. I'm 100% sure my most vague feeling is more important than anyone else's life. Anyone who doesn't feel that way at this point is a fucking moron who needs to die.

[Stelio Kontos]

Believing that even a single nation from the worlds 'powers' does not engage in disinformation both at home and in its 'rival' states is straight up sillyness. this has been happening for decades all over the world.

But it's only bad when the other side does it, you see.

Or something like that.

Get in line or you're a Russian shill!

[Deleted]

Russians seem to have mastered the old technique of divide and conquer.

Btw, the West did this too during the cold war in Russia and the US in many South American countries.