Bildziukiewicz: Let’s mobilize to fight Russian and Chinese propaganda

The manipulation of information is something that is constantly evolving, says Martyna Bildziukiewicz, head of East Stratcom Task Force at the European External Action Service (EEAS), as she calls for mobilization to combat disinformation, especially Russian and Chinese ones.

As disinformation has become a serious threat to democracies and global societies, Bildziukiewicz says the European Union has taken a broad approach based on four main pillars to address this challenge.

Situational awareness, capacity building, external action and regulation and sanctions are some of the pillars, which she emphasizes help create a robust strategy to protect the integrity of information and democratic institutions.

“The EU now cooperates more closely with international partners, such as the USA and NATO, to face disinformation as a global threat”, she underlines.

While calling for mobilization in the fight against Russian and Chinese disinformation, Bildziukiewicz points out that the EU has imposed sanctions against media outlets and purveyors of disinformation and adopted regulations such as the Digital Services Act to work more closely with social media platforms and moderate content that spread disinformation.

Full interview:

The Geopost: Can you please tell us how is the EU fighting disinformation?

Bildziukiewicz: The European Union has been working on a comprehensive strategy to deal with the threat of disinformation for a few years. Now we can say that it is built on four pillars. The first one is so-called situational awareness. So this means that we need to really invest in our analytical capabilities to understand what is going on in the information space, and we know that there are many different ways in which different threat actors manipulate. So this is the first pillar to understand and analyze and draw conclusions from what is actually going on in the information environment.

The second part, the second pillar, possibly the most essential one, is capacity building. This means many different activities from strategic communications and proactive communications in order to fill the void that disinformation leaves behind, but also all sorts of investments, in capacity building in our societies, so trainings on how to recognize disinformation, how to defend oneself against it, how to work with others. We are also trying to facilitate contacts between different civil society organizations and journalists so that they can learn from one another. And this is exactly why I think this is an essential pillar of our whole toolbox. Because when we realize that we are talking about the global threat that is really endangering all democracies of the world, all institutions and civil societies, then we are able to create a space where people learn from one another and don’t need to start the fight from scratch, they can actually benefit from the experience that others already had.

Then the third pillar is EU external action. This means, among other things, very close cooperation with international partners, so outside of the European Union. And this is also quite new, because a few years ago we didn’t have such opportunities. Now we are able to contact very quickly our colleagues in the US, in NATO, in Japan, in different places in the world, and we actually speak the same language when we talk about the threat.

And the same goes for EU member states. So we have different fora where we can exchange information and we can also act together to counter the threat of disinformation.

Lastly, the fourth pillar is regulation and sanctions. So the EU has been quite actively putting sanctions on disinformation outlets and disinformation purveyors for the last two years because as much as we appreciate the freedom of speech we also need to make sure that the freedom of speech is possible thanks to the sane information environment. So disinformation outlets that have a vital role in justifying Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, for example, do not have a space in the European Union anymore. And of course, different regulatory initiatives, especially the Digital Services Act, is something that is also quite a new development in the European Union and it helps also work more closely with social media platforms to moderate content, to also take more responsibility on disinformation and information manipulation that is taking place there.

The Geopost: This year were held European Parliament elections; did you detect any interferences or disinformation or Russian influence?

Bildziukiewicz: I think we have to admit that Russia and also other threat actors, they will not stop trying to manipulate. So yes, we saw attempts. We especially saw disinformation narratives that were trying to discourage people to go and vote. And I think that there is a lesson here for any other country or organization that is facing the election period. Probably the most dangerous narrative that is being pushed out there quite often is to discourage people to go and exercise their rights. So the narrative goes, it doesn’t make any sense for you to go because you don’t have any influence over who is going to rule your country or your organization in any case. So there is this meta-narrative in this, which is us versus them. So there is always this powerful them somewhere out there, usually they are quite abstract. In the European case, it was those shadow rulers somewhere behind the scenes. And so with this narrative, people can be discouraged. and then they don’t participate in the public discussion. Then they don’t participate in the elections. Luckily this was not a successful tactic in the European Parliament elections this year, nor was it successful five years ago because we already saw back then that especially Russia was trying to use the same way of manipulating us. Nevertheless, I think we need to be aware of this particular way, especially because if it is successful, then it kind of lays the ground for further manipulation, because let’s say not many people go and elect their representatives to a parliament. Then the threat actor can say, well, see how weak this parliament is, see how weak this government is, how weak the institutions are, they don’t have the public legitimacy and then they can manipulate over and over again based on this particular narrative.

The Geopost: What is the message for journalists and organizations who are fighting disinformation war?

Bildziukiewicz: I think the most important message is to work together with others, try to learn from what we know already. There is a really wide and robust body of evidence collected by, for example, Ukrainian media and Ukrainian civil society organizations about how Russia manipulates. But there is also quite a robust body of research in terms of Chinese manipulation, and I think the more journalists and civil society organizations work with one another, the better they learn and the more successful they are in staying vigilant.

But I also think it’s very important and I hope the European Union can help with that. It’s important to stay ahead of the curve. So information manipulation is something that evolves constantly. Now, of course, everybody is talking about artificial intelligence and how AI is also helping, unfortunately, disinformation to spread even faster and to be produced even faster. And this is, of course, true. We do not see AI being applied on a very large scale just yet. But my point here is that there are different ways to manipulate and we need to stay vigilant and we need to learn about them so that we can bring this knowledge to different audiences, to our citizens. But my point here is that there are different ways to manipulate and we need to stay vigilant and we need to learn about them so that we can bring this knowledge to different audiences, to our citizens.

And this is how we raise awareness, this is also how we stay resilient.

The Geopost