Elections across the globe this year will be a “prime target” for countries looking to spread disinformation and undermine democracy, such as Russia, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Tuesday (23 January).
“One of the most significant threats of our time is not about a bomb that can kill you, it’s about a poison that can colonise your mind and how to address it,” Borrell said in a keynote speech, presenting the publication of the EU’s second annual disinformation report.
“2024 is a critical year to fight” foreign information manipulation and interference, Borrell said, warning that “elections will become the prime target for malign foreign actors.
“Security is no longer a matter of weaponry, of army, it is a matter of information, how people get ideas and facts that will later determine how citizens will choose their governments,” Borrell said.
“Keep in mind that unchecked malicious content spreads like cancer and puts the health of the democracy at risk, but we have the tools to effectively fight against this disease. We have the capacity, we need more.”
The World Economic Forum, held in Davos earlier in January, ranked disinformation and propaganda – called “foreign information manipulations and interference” (FIMI) in the report – as “the second biggest risk the world is going to face this year”.
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The EU report examined more than 750 disinformation attacks between December 2022 and November last year, involving the strategic spread of false stories and harassment of legitimate sources to reduce trust in public institutions and sow hatred against nations and groups of people.
In the 750 attacks investigated, 4,000 channels (websites and social media platforms) had been used, with election attacks prepared months in advance.
Researchers from the EU’s diplomatic service, EEAS, found that Ukraine was the most frequently attacked, but 149 entities including media organisations such as Euronews, Reuters, Deutsche Welle, and the New York Times and LGBTQ+ organisations were also targeted.
