Vasickova: Chinese disinformation on the rise, amplified by pro-Russian narratives

Central Europe is facing an increasing influence of Chinese disinformation, Marketa Vasickova – analyst at the Institute for Global Analytics – tells The Geopost. While adding that the same is being greatly amplified by pro-Russian narratives.

In the interview for The Geopost, Vcasickova also talks about foreign interference in electoral processes, as one of the biggest challenges to information security in Europe.

Full interview:

The Geopost: Thank you very much for this interview with The Geopost. Can you tell us a little bit about the situation in the Czech Republic regarding disinformation and in Central Europe in general?

Vasickova: So in Czech Republic we have a lot of pro-Russian disinformation narratives, especially surrounding the war in Ukraine. This disinformation is slightly different to what we see in other parts of Eastern Europe because it’s not necessarily pro-Russian but rather anti-Ukrainian, and it draws on this idea that Ukrainians are so-called leeches on the social welfare system. On the other hand, while there is a proliferation of this disinformation, there is also much effort to curb it. So a couple of years ago, about eight of the main disinformation channels were actually banned, and Russian disinformation is recognized as the security threat. Similarly, there is a growing influence of Chinese disinformation, which amplifies a lot of the pro-Russian narratives. However, this is also being curbed, and there is much effort to counter this. And so I’d say Czech Republic is unique in the sense of its efforts to curb it. However, of course, we mustn’t underestimate the power of these narratives, especially within groups outside of the capitals and outside of main cities.

The Geopost: You have elections now, and last year there were elections in Europe. What kind of threat or interference is there in the elections?

Vasickova: Of course, there is a lot of interference on social media, as it is all around Central, Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This is specifically targeted on young people as well, which is a growing threat, because there is often the sense that young people are more democratic and more progressive. But this can sometimes be a misconception. For example, in Bulgaria, a lot of young people actually hold anti-democratic and anti-EU sentiments.

So we must be aware of this coming into further elections. Similarly, we saw quite threatening patterns during the presidential election three or four years ago, where, for instance, the main candidate who is now our president, President Pavel, was accused of being pro-war just because he wanted to send aid to Ukraine. So we see how these narratives become twisted through disinformation, and we must be wary of that.

The Geopost: Do you have a case of Chinese interference in the Czech Republic or Central Europe?

Vasickova: So, as I said, the Chinese interference is present. So far, it works majorly to amplify Russian disinformation and Russian narratives. There are some unique cases, but these are being curbed. The Czech intelligence services are working hard against this, so that is a positive thing. We must be aware, though, not to, I think, equate these strategies, the pro-Russian disinformation and pro-Chinese disinformation, going forward. And we must look at how each of them are unique, and each of them works uniquely to achieve their own aims.

The Geopost: At the Balkans Disinformation Summit we are talking about the Balkan cases, but you are also a researcher for global analysis in Bulgaria. What is the situation now, because there is a lot of interference and disinformation in Romania and Bulgaria, but especially could you talk a little bit about the Bulgarian case?

Vasickova: So in the Bulgarian case, there is a big vulnerability in terms of politics. There have been, in conclusive elections, a lot of political turmoil in the past, which this Russian disinformation seeks to exploit. The pro-Russian narratives and Russian disinformation is present not only within the media, where you have a lot of pro-Kremlin actors, but it’s also present within the political spectrum, not only on the left, on the right, or in the nationalist factions, but kind of spread across. So that is the case with kind of politics and media. Similarly, Russian disinformation particularly works in kind of covert, informal ways. So it seeks to tap into networks, such as the energy network, or seeks to influence the defense sector and so on, and tries to paint this picture that political and economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Russia is mutually beneficial.

So that is one of the narratives. We also have the classic narrative of Russia being the savior, and therefore we owe gratitude to them, this idea of the Slavic Brotherhood, which I think is quite similar across the Balkans and Eastern Central Europe. So these are the kind of narratives, and of course with the war in Ukraine, you have narratives such as painting Ukraine as the one to blame, or the West as the one to blame for the invasion.

So these are the kind of narratives, and then of course they have impact not only on the media landscape, on the information landscape, but also in terms of, for example, universities and the kind of information that gets taught to students. There’s also much contestation about memory, and you have a lot of politicians contesting, for example, the takedown of Soviet statues. So it has to do a lot with memory and history, but also the information landscape now. And as part of IGA, we do a lot of research on public opinion.

So in 2024, we did this big public opinion poll and survey, where we sought to kind of see how these narratives actually influence people and their opinions on things like NATO, EU, Russia, China. And we found out that while, for instance, NATO attitudes have been turning more positive, attitudes towards the EU have been turning negative. So a lot of young people, for example, see the EU as being dictatorial. So there is kind of unevenness in that. And last point I’ll say on that is that people are leaning towards authoritarian countries more, including Russia and China. So while people continue to see France and Germany as the best strategic partners for Bulgaria, we also see that Russia and China are quite close behind, which is a bit worrying.

/The Geopost