On Tuesday 22 April, the members of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) interviewed a number of researchers and journalists to provide input for their work, in particular on Russian hybrid threats and the way in which Russia manipulates the news and elections, attacks physical infrastructures or also migratory flows, such as those to Poland from Belarus.
While the Chair of the EUDS Committee, Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French), explained that Russia has for years been waging a “shadow war against our democracies” and that the EU is indeed “at war, even a hybrid war, with Russia”, the various speakers detailed the methods used by Moscow to influence opinion – particularly with regard to the war in Ukraine – in order to erode support for the EU or constituents’ votes, with the representatives of the NGO Alliance4Europe pointing in particular at the recent German elections.
Researcher Nina Jankowicz, director of the American Sunlight Project, also devoted part of her findings to US Internet platforms and the “capture” of platforms such as Meta and X by US President Donald Trump. She also criticised the US government’s decision to abolish the Office for Combating Russian Interference, calling on the EU to take equally unscrupulous action against the disinformation disseminated by US platforms that allow false Russian information to be spread.
It is necessary to “stand firm in defence of your democracies” and fight “US attacks” aimed at campaigning to stop the implementation of the DSA regulation and weaken support for Ukraine.
With regard to Russia’s methods, she listed the use of generative artificial intelligence, deep fakes, chatbot and hundreds of thousands of automated accounts, long dormant and reactivated during elections, responsible for republishing content.
She also mentioned broadcasting content in minority languages, such as Basque, to extend the sphere of distribution.
For its part, the NGO Alliance4Europe highlighted Russian tactics, such as those of the Russian Storm 15 16 network, Operation Doppelgänger and the physical methods of sabotaging cars in the EU, which were later attributed to environmental activists.
The NGO called on the EU to implement its tools, such as the DSA, “ambitiously” in the face of the US giants and by using sanctions, but also to provide the European Democracy Shield project with a concrete and credible budget in order to create a “new defence ecosystem”.
The threat and the need for a firm response were recognised by a large number of MEPs, although some members of the PfE group accused the European Commission of disinformation and of wanting to standardise thinking. Spain’s António Tânger Corrêa returned to the controversy surrounding European funding for NGOs, saying that “it’s not just the Russians who are spreading disinformation”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)