EU election was targeted by Russian disinformation

The Financial Times reports that according to an initial review by Brussels, Russian sources mounted a “continued and sustained” disinformation effort to “suppress turnout and influence voter preferences” at last month’s EU parliament elections.

The document, due to be published later Friday, does not draw conclusions about who was behind the disinformation or how it was coordinated. But it says the polls faced wide-ranging attempts to mislead voters.

The Financial Times reported disinformation tactics had evolved quickly in response to countermeasures by countries and technology companies, the report found. “Instead of conducting large-scale operations on digital platforms. . . actors, in particular linked to Russian sources, now appeared to be opting for smaller-scale, localised operations that are harder to detect and expose,” the report said.

The investigation found that social media companies fell short in their efforts to tackle the malicious activity despite improvements in some areaswarning that they risked regulation if they failed to do better.

Disinformation cited in the commission report included the use of April’s fire in the Notre-Dame Cathedral to show the “alleged decline of western and Christian values in the EU”.

Via FT