EU Report: Russia and China Spread Coronavirus Disinformation

The latest update from the European External Action Service's (EEAS) team dedicated to highlighting disinformation digital tactics was published on Wednesday, claiming that Russia and China are using government-backed media to spread fake news about how the EU is dealing with the coronavirus.

"In the EU and elsewhere, coordinated disinformation messaging seeks to frame vulnerable minorities as the cause of the pandemic and to fuel distrust in the ability of democratic institutions to deliver effective responses," reads the analysis. "Some state and state-backed actors seek to exploit the public health crisis to advance geopolitical interests, often by directly challenging the credibility of the European Union and its partners."

East Stratcom group, at this time focusing on debunking fake news originating from Russia, reported 150+ cases of pro-Kremlin disinformation related to the global health crisis since late January. The EEAS analysis reads that China and Russia in the past few weeks have attempted to undermine Europe's response to the healthcare crisis. This effort included promoting messages internationally (within the EU and as far as North America) that the EU was failing to tackle the pandemic, and that the Union was betraying its core values in the region's response. This way the fake news established the view that Moscow and Beijing were the only ones following the right strategy to fight COVID-19.

Both Russia and China stand firmly on their rejection of these accusations, claiming that they have not spread false reports and disinformation online.

By Nini Dakhundaridze

Source: Politico.com

Image source: CNBC