Russian, Chinese sources keep pushing false narratives on coronavirus and EU efforts to fight pandemic
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Russian and Chinese sources are pushing through fake narratives in the European Union, aimed at audiences in Europe and its neigbourhood with misinformation and “conspiracy narratives about COVID-19″. This emerges from a leaked report of the European External Action Service’s StratCom division.
Janis Sarts, Stratcom Director, recently said that the two countries had different approaches to misinformation. China claims that the virus wasn’t created in their country, even suggesting that it is a biological weapon created in the US, while Russia emphasizes how the European Union is not able to deal with the crisis and that it is not helping its Member States.
Politico.eu, an international political news website, reports that the document, which is expected to become public shortly, states that Russian “official sources and state-controlled media and social media channels have been running a coordinated campaign … promoting false health information.” The report notes that the Russians and the Chinese target in particular “smaller media markets within and outside the EU” where “tech companies face lower incentives to take adequate counter-measures”.
According to the report, this (mis)information has a two-fold objective: improving the countries’ image, while at the same time undermining the European Union and its efforts among the target audiences. In particular, it notes that from China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed”.
“A growing body of evidence suggests that coronavirus related disinformation can have a direct impact on public health and security,” argues the report.
