China and Russia use a “massive digital arsenal” to interfere and manipulate Western democracies, the European Union warned, Tuesday, March 18. “The manipulation and interference of information constitutes a major threat to EU security,” said the head of European diplomacy Kaja Kallas, in a report. “We must not underestimate the power that all of this has on us, nor the intentions of their authors,” she added.
In her latest annual report on the subject, the EU indicates that last year, she identified disinformation attacks against more than eighty countries and more than two hundred organizations. The war in Ukraine remains a major target for Russia, but events such as the Paris Olympic Games, the Moldova elections and farmers’ demonstrations in Germany were also in the crosshairs. “The objective is to destabilize our societies, to harm our democracies, to widen ditches between us and our partners and undermine the position of the EU in the world,” said Kaja Kallas.
The report indicates that the EU has become more capable of highlighting the campaigns carried out by Moscow and Beijing to shape European public opinion. He assures for example that Russia uses a complex network “of state and non-state actors”, ranging from influencers of social media to state media and official spokespersons, to create and amplify its messages.
“A significant alignment of sino-Russian stories”
China, on the other hand, seems to intensify the use of “private public relations societies and influencers to create, amplify and whiten content aligned with the political interests of China worldwide”. The report does not go so far as to accuse Russia and China to agree actively to broadcast disinformation. However, he underlines that during the month which marked the 1,000 days of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, “a significant alignment of the Sino-Russian stories appeared, with hostile messages accusing NATO of being responsible for climbing conflict”.
The EU is also more and more worried about Russia’s interference in the context of what it considers a wider hybrid campaign carried out by Moscow, including acts of sabotage aimed at weakening the West.