(Brussels) France, Germany and Poland have become, ahead of the European elections, targets of permanent Russian disinformation attacks, underlined Tuesday the Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Jourova, two days before the start of the ballot.
“According to the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), before the elections there are three major countries constantly attacked by Russia: these are France, Germany and Poland,” said the manager during a press conference.
“Larger-scale disinformation attacks have been observed on specific subjects,” she continued: in France, they concern the Olympic Games and New Caledonia, in Germany, “the issues of immigration and security “.
She also cited a cyberattack against the Polish news agency PAP on Friday, which gave rise to a false report announcing the mobilization of 200,000 Poles to fight in Ukraine. “Isn’t that kind of adrenaline-pumping message predictable? “, she commented.
“Russian propaganda is based on a good knowledge of the sensitivities of each country,” underlined Vera Jourova.
She added that this distribution was taking place “through the Telegram network” in countries such as Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Baltics.
Encrypted messaging is not included in the list of “very large platforms” – with more than 45 million users in the EU – subject to enhanced obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act.
The European Commissioner recently visited the United States, where she met with the leaders of Google, YouTube, X and, via videoconference, those of TikTok and Meta, demanding from them “maximum vigilance” in the face of “possible Russian interference and disinformation campaigns, which may seem like a distant threat, from California.”
She stressed that these internet giants must deploy “adequate resources” to ensure content moderation.
They must also comply with the ban on the dissemination of content from media outlets that have been sanctioned by the EU as Moscow propaganda outlets, she insisted, adding that “texts from pro-Kremlin forces were still recently prominently visible on some platforms.”
Two days before the start of the elections which are being held from Thursday to Sunday in the 27 EU countries, she estimated that there was still a risk that “a last-ditch “shrapnel” (shell filled with bullets) minute be sent to information space”.
This represents an “increased danger because there will not be enough time to react,” she worried.
Regarding “deepfakes”, synthesis techniques which make it possible to create misleading videos or images, she stressed that the platforms must comply with their commitments, to clearly flag this content and remove it if it is combined with disinformation.