The globe-wide coronavirus outbreak has spawned plenty of myths over it. These myths or fakes, like most disinformation campaigns in recent years, have primarily come from the Russian Federation. They have all been tracked down, analyzed and debunked by EUvsDisinfo’s experts.
EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the European External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force. It was established in 2015 to better forecast, address, and respond to the Russian Federation’s ongoing disinformation campaigns affecting the European Union, its Member States, and countries in the shared neighbourhood. Its core objective is to increase public awareness and understanding of the Kremlin’s disinformation operations, and to help citizens in Europe and beyond develop resistance to digital information and media manipulation.
Using data analysis and media monitoring services in 15 languages, EUvsDisinfo identifies, compiles, and exposes disinformation cases originating in pro-Kremlin media that are spread across the EU and Eastern Partnership countries.
- The EUvsDisinfo's web-site covers several different products:
- A public disinformation cases database. As of 2020, EUvsDisinfo’s monitoring capabilities also uncover disinformation spread in the Western Balkans and the EU’s Southern neighbourhood. These cases are collected in the EUvsDisinfo database, which currently comprises over 8,000 samples of pro-Kremlin disinformation. The database is updated every week, together with a brief trend summary.
- Disinformation Review. The Disinformation Review is EUvsDisinfo’s weekly newsletter issued every Thursday. It generalizes main pro-Kremlin disinformation trends collected throughout the week, and includes EUvsDisinfo’s latest news and analysis. Since its launch in 2015, the Disinformation Review has tracked the evolution of pro-Kremlin disinformation across a collection of more than 8,000 cases in 18 languages.
- In addition to the database, EUvsDisinfo regularly publishes articles and analyses about new developments in disinformation methods and practice, and collates international research that makes innovative contributions to the field.
- Why was the East StratCom Task Force created?
Among the major reasons for its birth there was the hybrid war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine in 2014: first the Crimea’s annexation and later the occupation of the eastern territories of Ukraine.
The Task Force was also set up to address Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns. In March 2015, the European Council tasked the High Representative in cooperation with EU institutions and Member States to submit an action plan on strategic communication.
- The Action Plan on Strategic Communication, presented in June 2015, has three main objectives:
- Effective communication and promotion of EU policies towards the Eastern Neighbourhood;
- Strengthening the overall media environment in the Eastern Neighbourhood and in EU Member States, including support for media freedom and strengthening independent media;
- Improved EU capacity to forecast, address and respond to disinformation activities by external actors.
The Russian war in Ukraine has always been accompanied by sweeping disinformation campaigns in which key role is played by blatant and overt lies. This hybrid operation involves not only the military occupation and destabilization of Ukraine. Its purpose is to undermine Ukraine's position in the eyes of the international community by sowing doubts and confusion. Not limited to Ukraine, its allies, in particular the EU Member States, have also become the target for the crushing pro-Kremlin propaganda. The East Stratcom Task Force was set up to counter the lies of the Kremlin propaganda machine and debunk its myths.
- What does the East StratCom Task Force do?
The Task Force develops communication products and campaigns focused on better explaining EU policies in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). It works closely with the EU institutions and with EU Delegations in the Eastern Partnership countries.
The Task Force supports wider EU efforts aimed at strengthening the media environment in the Eastern Partnership region, in close collaboration with other EU actors. The Task Force reports on and analyses disinformation trends, explains and exposes disinformation narratives, and raises awareness of disinformation coming from Russian State, Russian sources and spread in the Eastern neighbourhood media space.
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The above information has been provided by the VRU Committee on Ukraine's Integration into EU.