Russia deploying coronavirus disinformation to sow panic in West, EU document says
Source: reuters
March 18, 2020 / 4:28 AM / Updated an hour ago
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russian media have deployed a significant disinformation campaign against the West to worsen the impact of the coronavirus, generate panic and sow distrust, according to a European Union document seen by Reuters.
The Kremlin denied the allegations on Wednesday, saying they were unfounded and lacked common sense.
The EU document said the Russian campaign, pushing fake news online in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French, uses contradictory, confusing and malicious reports to make it harder for the EU to communicate its response to the pandemic.
A significant disinformation campaign by Russian state media and pro-Kremlin outlets regarding COVID-19 is ongoing, said the nine-page internal document, dated March 16, using the name of the disease that can be caused by the coronavirus.
The overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries...in line with the Kremlins broader strategy of attempting to subvert European societies, the document produced by the EUs foreign policy arm, the European External Action Service, said.
An EU database has recorded almost 80 cases of disinformation about coronavirus since Jan. 22, it said, noting Russian efforts to amplify Iranian accusations online, cited without evidence, that coronavirus was a U.S. biological weapon. ..................................................................
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-disinformation/russia-deploying-coronavirus-disinformation-to-sow-panic-in-west-eu-document-says-idUSKBN21518F
Perhaps trumpy can call his pal Putin and tell him to Knock it off!!
FILE PHOTO: Fake blood is seen in test tubes labelled with the coronavirus (COVID-19) in this illustration taken March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)riversedge
(69,727 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Mr. Sparkle
(2,915 posts)If they are going to abuse it , they have no right to be using it.
patphil
(6,035 posts)What they're doing affects the entire world.
Time to put a stop to their malicious postings.
dalton99a
(81,070 posts)Make them carry cash in suitcases like the North Koreans
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)Jim__
(14,045 posts)How are they pushing this online? Through social media? Through Russian news outlets? Can we identify the sources and publish them as untrustworthy Russian sources? Can social media outlets identify their sources of fake news and shut them down?
I'm guessing that identifying the sources of these stories on social media would be easier than phony political stories.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Hekate
(90,202 posts)Zuckerberg bleats piously about "freedom of speech," but that is a red herring. All he cares about is his cash-flow.
As for sources -- the tv station RT (Russia Today) was very popular among a certain segment of American progressives because they hired several otherwise unemployed American commentators and allowed them to say what they wanted if they criticized the US. But make no mistake -- RT is a Russian State propaganda outlet.
If you truly have no clue about events around the 2016 election, Google "Cambridge Analytica + Facebook."
KPN
(15,587 posts)based on "advice" from Putin. Probably advice he couldn't refuse.
SO ... when we recapture the WH, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? I don't think it would be wise to run on a platform that included payback, but I sure in hell hope that's what we see when we get there. As a nation, we need to destroy the Russian oligarchs who are a threat to the mankind.
cab67
(2,963 posts)but given what's happening, if this is official Russian policy, it verges on an act of war.
RT Atlanta
(2,517 posts)and also agree on the sentiment.
Presuming the report is true, our country shouldnt take this kind of behavior just lying down. The problem again goes back to the top with donnie-t and his for all intents and purposes being a russian asset and doing their bidding.
Unplug russia and freeze their assets.
TheFourthMind
(343 posts)It'll probably look something like this. A real US President telling a little twerp tyrant the way it's gonna be.
"I've learned to hate the Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It's them we must fight..." - Dylan
RussBLib
(8,985 posts)but certainly not until we get Trump and the GOP out of power.
Champp
(2,114 posts)Their evil buddies, Russia, will pile lies on top of the republican lies, creating a lie sandwich.
benld74
(9,889 posts)yellowdogintexas
(22,119 posts)and the numbers are very sparse. This tells me they aren't testing or they aren't reporting or both
benld74
(9,889 posts)Have been looking at JHopkins site since December
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
orangecrush
(19,236 posts)Itchinjim
(3,083 posts)Very, very harshly dealt with.
keithbvadu2
(36,369 posts)deploying coronavirus disinformation... through their WH agent orange.
CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)The last time any Russians took a "cruise", it was to retrieve their sunken submarine. I don't remember if it was before or after they nuked themselves in Chernobyl.
And we're afraid of them?
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)which sank in August of 2000.
A completely avoidable disaster. Dead: 118 Sailors.
CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)In historical perspective, they seem incompetent, yet own us on the Internet.
Of course, our ruble-enriched Repubs are accomplices in that.
blugbox
(951 posts)That way we know what to look for
PSPS
(13,512 posts)Fox, social media, even chat boards like DU, are not definitive sources of accurate information. Another place you can rely on is your local/state health department.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Example 'Russian disinformation' suggested Italian, other EU medical systems 'under stress':
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-disinformation/russia-deploying-coronavirus-disinformation-to-sow-panic-in-west-eu-document-says-idUKKBN215189?il=0
While everything in Italy was and is really cool, nothing to see there of course (sarc).
It seems the MI6-EU propaganda was distributed before Trump & de Piffle-Johnson got their chips recently changed, if you follow me.
totodeinhere
(13,037 posts)like everywhere else if it hasn't started already.
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)TomCADem
(17,378 posts)...vote to stop this misinformation?
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)And if Randumb Paul won't, somebody should - well, he should get a visit from his neighbor.
John Fante
(3,479 posts)Hekate
(90,202 posts)TygrBright
(20,733 posts)The Soviet Union looked like a mega-threat, a monstrous, coordinated, totalitarian juggernaut marching in lockstep to military and scientific accomplishments with ominous overtones.
In reality, the Soviet Union was inflated like over-proved dough and in the process of collapsing under the weight of its combination of a static, sluggish economy and a rigid, internally toxic bureaucracy.
Russia looks like an authoritarian oligarchy of gigantic malice and power, but in fact it, too, will inevitably collapse under the weight of its internal inequities, disunion, and a population riddled with addiction (possibly the highest alcoholism rate in the world) and an uncontrolled coronavirus pandemic.
They cannot control their coronavirus spread because they cannot admit it exists... to do so would be to pop the propaganda bubble and crack the structure of their authoritarian control.
All the rest of the world really needs to do is stand back, protect ourselves from the flailing malice and propaganda attacks, and let them complete their descent into chaos.
A lot of wonderful, blameless, gallant Russian people will die in the process.
sadly,
Bright
totodeinhere
(13,037 posts)Russia. But that won't work for long. He will eventually be forced to confront it just like the Chinese were. This is a global problem and Russia certainly won't be immune.