The European Commission is concerned about Russian disinformation which risks interfering in elections in Europe.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Vera Jourova, even speaks “ massive manipulation weapon » as we previously spoke of a weapon of mass destruction. So, it’s a soft powercertainly, but which is likely to undermine democracy and disrupt elections, for example this weekend in Slovakia, but also tomorrow in Poland or next year for the European elections.
The case of Slovakia is interesting. The favorite in the polls, Robert Fico, is a former Prime Minister chased after a corruption scandal, who wants to imitate Victor Orban, the Hungarian leader, in every way by disrupting the European game and opposing sanctions against Russia. For this, his Smer party is a nationalist formation with pro-Russian messages, hostile to migrants and Ukrainians.
Read alsoLegislative elections in Slovakia: towards a winning return for Robert Fico?
Where Russia’s influence arises is that we have seen that the rise of Robert Fico is accompanied by real disinformation campaigns on Facebook, for example. Result, to the question “ who is responsible for starting the war in Ukraine? » 40% of Slovaks think it is Russia and 34% say it is the West, according to a Globsec poll. This is why Vera Jourova is calling on the platforms to make more of an effort when they have just submitted their report on disinformation.
Elon Musk and X in the crosshairs of the European Commission
In the first four months alone, Google explained that it had blocked 411 YouTube channels involved in Russian influence operations. But it is above all Elon Musk and his network X, formerly Twitter, who are in the crosshairs of the Commission. Recently, he admitted to having fired half of his moderators who, according to him, “ harmed the integrity of the elections “.
Then, since May, he left the European Code of Best Practices against Disinformation which was signed by 44 platforms. As for the mention “account affiliated with a State”, it no longer exists since April. The result was immediate, according to Newsguard: in three months, Russian media like RT and Sputnik saw their number of likes double or even triple. The Commission therefore asks Elon Musk to respect its new law on digital services, failing which X will be sanctioned.
The billionaire will perhaps be able to console himself by saying that in Europe, it is not only Russian fake news about migrants that is disrupting societies. On the CNews channel, host Pascal Praud made a link between the presence of migrants and bedbugs proliferating in the capital, according to The Parisian. The Arcom has been seized. This is never trivial when a population is associated with a parasite.