Experts: Russian disinformation campaigns create a climate of chaos

To the audience of Polish public radio 'Polskie Radio', the main headlines on its website seemed strange: "Unacceptable truth: EU will do without Poland" and "Ukraine will remain outside the EU" ".

The pro-Russian and Eurosceptic theories did not match the mainstream radio reporting. But at first glance, her website looked genuine.

From a careful look at the page, one thing stood out: the website address was polskieradio.icu. The real address of the 'Polskie Radio' website is polskieradio.pl. Pro-Russian theories were placed on the cloned Russian website to mislead readers.

The incident, discovered in April, is part of a wider effort to use fake websites over the past two years to run a "continuous" disinformation campaign, according to an article published on the institute's website. International Press Association, based in Austria, which is also signed by three other European organizations that protect press freedom. These organizations say that Russian agents are creating fake news sites on the Internet that impersonate reputable sources of information and post fake news on these sites.

"It's hard to tell that it's a fake website, that's why it's working," says Camille Magnissalis, who monitors press freedom violations for the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). "If you are not aware, it is very easy to be deceived".

The US Department of Justice announced in September that such websites are part of "malicious influence campaigns orchestrated by the Russian government" , known colloquially as "Doppelganger", a word borrowed from the German language to describe an individual which is almost identical to another.

The State Department during that period announced the "seizure in progress" of 32 Internet addresses that were used in such campaigns.

The websites imitate the sites of reliable European media, but actually deceive readers with malicious news and propaganda. Such content is often distributed on social media through advertisements or accounts created by computer programs (bots).

"They are often political issues because their goal is to influence people ," expert Magnissalis told VOA. "Ultimately, these stories integrate into the news landscape and have impact."

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium details the Russian disinformation campaign in its report for the first half of 2024, which analyzes media content. Two European press rights organizations, EFJ and IPI, are part of this group.

In 2023, fake websites were mostly filled with fake writing, according to the MFRR report. This year, most attacks have been created using artificial intelligence, whether through manipulated 'deepfake' photos or fake audio recordings of well-known journalists.

Such content undermines trust in the news and creates a "climate of chaos" for European news readers, according to the report.

The addresses of these fake websites are purchased through cryptocurrency transactions, hiding the real identity of the buyer. Digital accounts for cryptocurrencies were linked to Russia, according to the IPI report.

"They are using sophisticated tactics to mask the fact that they are trying to misinform everyone," says official Karol Luczka from the IPI's Eastern Europe branch. "They try to hide the fact that Russia is behind these efforts."

This Russian operation has targeted Ukraine, Poland and Germany. Even France before the presidential elections this summer was his target. A website imitated the website of the French newspaper Le Monde.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA's request for comment on these developments.

Although the Russian campaign is widespread throughout Europe, the fake websites first appeared in Ukraine in an attempt to manipulate public opinion about Russia's war in Ukraine, according to expert Luczka.

According to him, the fake news on these websites was mainly aimed at advancing three Russian theories: that Ukraine is losing the war, that Ukraine is running out of resources, or that the Ukrainian government is corrupt.

Before 2022, Russia mainly published disinformation in the Russian language. The actual campaign of impersonating websites of respected media is done in the language of the country being targeted. This form makes the writings more reliable for the public, says expert Luczka for the Voice of America.

"Russian disinformation tactics are getting sharper and more refined ," he says. "This means that they are becoming even more efficient, unfortunately."

The social platform Facebook has played a key role in the spread of these websites and their false information, Mr. Luczka says, adding that the platform is where Ukrainians read most of their news.

About 54% of the Ukrainian population use the Facebook platform, according to data collected by the World Population Magazine.

This presents a challenge for large technology companies such as Meta, owner of the Facebook platform, according to expert Magnissalis from EFJ. These platforms have a responsibility to monitor disinformation posted on them, she says, including that coming from Russian actors.

"They create fake accounts and spread the writing through these websites all over the place," she says. "It is not a new method, but it is problematic"./ VOA