The foreign ministers of France, Poland, and Germany, at a meeting near Paris on Monday, the 12th of February, accused Russia of creating a complex network of websites to spread pro-Russian propaganda to undermine their governments, while also warned of a massive spread of such content ahead of the June elections, reports Reuters.
Western countries have repeatedly accused Russian agents of using social media and the internet to spread false or misleading information.
The ministers said they had set up a joint mechanism to detect and respond to possible Russian online attacks.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, at a press conference with his Polish and German counterparts, noted the vulnerability during the European elections, highlighting concerns about the French Olympics.
Prior to the meeting, French diplomatic sources reported that the French watchdog VIGINUM had identified 193 websites spreading information from pro-Russian sources and Russian news services. These
websites allegedly aimed to give a positive image of Russia’s war in Ukraine while defaming Ukraine and its leaders.
Diplomats have pointed out that, unlike previous disinformation campaigns, the Portal Kombat, as France has called it, seeks to attract people to these sites, some of which have local domains, so that they can then spread the information locally.
“These are attacks on our democracy,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, adding that the European Union (EU) must not allow people’s trust to be undermined.
French officials have expressed concern that, although the impact of the websites identified so far has been limited, they aim to spread harmful information. With two years of war in Ukraine, elections in Russia, the EU and the US, and the Olympic Games this year, officials anticipate an increase in Russian activity and widespread distribution of harmful content.
Diplomats have cited as an example an article on a website called “Enough!: France calls for radical measures against Zelenskyy”. The article referred to a post on X by a pro-Russian French far-right opposition politician.
Also read: Public opinions at risk of manipulation by AI-generated content during pre-election period
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