The European Union on Tuesday pledged to step up its fight against Russian disinformation as fears surge over interference by Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
The EU has already banned Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik from broadcasting across the 27-nation bloc in a bid to curb what Brussels dubs key "weapons in the Kremlin's manipulation ecosystem". On 8 March, the websites of both RT and Sputnik still seemed to be working when accessed from Paris, but the streaming TV function on RT was inaccessible.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would now propose a new mechanism that could allow the bloc to sanction Moscow's "malign disinformation actors".
"We are witnessing how the Russian assault on Ukraine continues," Borrell told lawmakers at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
We need protect our democracies from foreign interference and attempts to manipulate.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 8, 2022
I will propose a new horizontal regime that will allow us to sanction malign disinformation actors.
This will be part of a broader toolbox that will enhance our capacity to deter and to act. pic.twitter.com/Kc30DxSbwo
"And this assault painfully highlights why we need to pay more attention to foreign interference, and in particular, to foreign disinformation and information manipulation."
Borrell decried the Kremlin's crackdown on independent reporting and blanket efforts by the "Russian propaganda machine" to justify the attack at home and distort what is happening on the ground.
"President (Vladimir) Putin wants his nation to be blind and deaf. More than that, President Putin I think would like the Russian people to be apathetic," Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for values and transparency, told legislators.
"It is more important than ever to reach the Russian people and provide them with information. Every possible channel should be used."
Truth is the greatest enemy of any oppressive regime.
— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) March 8, 2022
The only response to Putin’s aggression is unity.
We must fight #disinformation, protect #democracy and support independent media by working together: governments, citizens & private sector, including the big #tech companies. pic.twitter.com/xbnbb8XB76
Jourova praised a decision by streaming giant Netflix to halt services in Russia.
"President Putin wants the people to be entertained, not to pay attention to what's happening," she said.
"It would not be right to see Russians being entertained and next door Ukrainians being killed."
Several news organisations in Europe including France Medias Monde (which runs RFI) have been tracking coverage of the crisis, in a bid to debunk fake news stories and footage broadcast by Russian media.
The EU has already bolstered its efforts to counter Kremlin disinformation since Moscow annexed Crimea and began fuelling a war in eastern Ukraine in 2014 with its "EU vs disinformation" website.
(With AFP)
