With a large majority, the European Parliament advocates for a ban on foreign disruption and interference in election campaigns. This can counter not only Russian or Chinese propaganda in EU countries but also smear campaigns and fake news on Facebook and Twitter.
There has been much political debate in recent years about possible interventions against media articles, advertisements, and covert influence. Opponents speak of instituting censorship. Supporters point out that Facebook did nothing for years against obvious hate speech. The existence of Russian troll armies has also been known for years.
With the now adopted recommendations, we must put a stop to Russian propaganda, argue Dutch PvdA Members of the European Parliament Thijs Reuten and Paul Tang. The report makes dozens of proposals to put an end to interference by China and Russia in election processes. It also proposes strengthening the role of independent journalism.
It is now up to the European Commission to come up with concrete legislative proposals. But the Russian war against Ukraine once again makes clear that efforts are being made to manipulate public opinion.
Meanwhile, Russian TV channels are being removed from cable networks here and there in EU countries, and offices of independent media are being closed in Moscow.
“Putin knows that unity is our strongest weapon. That’s why he tries to undermine that unity in every possible way by sowing chaos, division, and uncertainty. Now that the EU unconditionally supports Ukraine, disinformation has become one of Putin’s most important weapons of war. We must do everything to disarm him,” said Reuten.
This calls for concrete action, says Paul Tang: “Only after the European Commission banned Russia Today and Sputnik did digital platforms take action. In the meantime, Russian propaganda continues to be shared unfiltered on social media. I urge Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok to alert visitors and readers to possible disinformation and to direct their users to objective sources.”
In recent years, much has become known about the Russian troll factories. The most notorious is located in an office building in Saint Petersburg where for years hundreds of employees daily tried to influence online conversations.
They are also accused of ties with Russian intelligence services or of being financed by businessmen such as Yevgeny Prigozhin, a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is also established that these Russian employees were active on social media abroad. In the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections, they created various accounts on Facebook that even managed to organize physical demonstrations in the United States. Facebook acknowledged several years ago that it had identified hundreds of 'Russian' profiles and thousands of advertisements.