Network operating in western Europe is ‘paving way for new wave of online manipulation’ in crucial election year, French agency says

French military and cybersecurity experts say they have identified a Moscow-based network spreading propaganda and disinformation in western Europe.

France’s Viginum agency, which was set up in 2021 to detect digital interference from foreign entities aimed at influencing public opinion, says Russia is paving the way for a new wave of online manipulation in the run-up to the European elections and other crucial votes this year.

The agency says the online network, which it has named “Portal Kombat”, includes at least 193 sites disseminating pro-Russian propaganda defending the Russian invasion of Ukraine and criticising the government in Kyiv. Much of the disinformation directed through social media sites and messaging apps is targeting those propagating conspiracy theories, it said.

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Edit: Here’s a link to Viginum’s full report (pdf) on the disinformation network. (thx @DolphinMath!)

  • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netEnglish
    121·
    9 months ago

    Source

    Since 2023: the “pravda” ecosystem Websites targeting the main western countries supporting Ukraine

    The first ecosystem of websites identified by VIGINUM targets several western countries that have publicly expressed their support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion:

    • pravda-fr[.]com: France;

    • pravda-de[.]com: Germany, Austria and Switzerland;

    • pravda-pl[.]com: Poland;

    • pravda-es[.]com: Spain;

    • pravda-en[.]com: United Kingdom and the United States.

    Note: These appear to mimic the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper and its sister sites.

  • SzymonEnglish
    71·
    9 months ago

    One has to wonder how good the world could be if Putin wasn’t around to direct things for so long taking pleasure in fucking everything over.

  • mindlight@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    The problem is that no one on their right mind is surprised while the ones swallowing all the disinformation because they “do their own research” will not be convinced by this fake news propaganda made by the establishment to hide the truth…

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    France’s Viginum agency, which was set up in 2021 to detect digital interference from foreign entities aimed at influencing public opinion, says Russia is paving the way for a new wave of online manipulation in the run-up to the European elections and other crucial votes this year.

    The agency says the online network, which it has named “Portal Kombat”, includes at least 193 sites disseminating pro-Russian propaganda defending the Russian invasion of Ukraine and criticising the government in Kyiv.

    The UN’s communications secretary general, Melissa Fleming, told the conference that “disinformation [is] being used to create not just the fog of war, but more suspicion, and more hatred” and was undermining peacekeeping forces.

    Věra Jourová, the EU’s vice president for values and transparency, with responsibility for media and disinformation portfolios, said: “Every day we see the Kremlin’s action to spread propaganda and interfere in democracies.

    Viginum says the propaganda campaign involves three “ecosystems”, one of which uses the website name pravda followed by the country code top-level domains (fr, de, pl, es, com), set up in June 2023 and found to have “identical technical characteristics: a common IP address hosted on a server located in Russia”.

    “Furthermore, these sites broadcast content with similar pro-Kremlin narratives, particularly about the supposed legitimacy of ‘the special military operation’, denigrating Ukraine and its leaders, or criticising ‘the collective West’,” it says.

    The original article contains 769 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!