how the European Union put itself in battle order against disinformation and foreign interference

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, attempts to destabilize the European Union and its member states have multiplied, particularly on social networks.

One month before the European election, concern remains high about the risks of disinformation campaigns on the part of Moscow. The European Union certainly requires digital platforms to clean up or report false information, but these new rules are still poorly applied. To strengthen vigilance, European institutions have therefore put in place monitoring and control tools to protect citizens.

Last month, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, alerted the leaders of the 27 on the sidelines of their summit: “The European Parliament will work with all the authorities, all the Member States, to ensure that these elections are not the target of any interference.ence,” she announced.

Several ballots disrupted

Recently, several elections were disrupted by false information campaigns, notably in Slovakia, explains Renaissance MEP Nathalie Loiseau, who chairs the security and defense subcommittee. One of the candidates was the victim of deepfake, these doctored videos, photos or audios. “We made him say things he didn’t say”, says Nathalie Loiseau, who specifies that he lost. “And obviously he was very pro-Ukraine and anti-Russia.”

In Bulgaria, false bomb threats targeted polling stations to dissuade voters. Attacks attributed to Russian networks, explains Lutz Gullner, head of the European anti-disinformation working group. “There is a common denominator in all of these actions: they are there to weaken the structures and confidence in our democracy.”

Training to avoid the repetition of false information

For months, on the sidelines of parliamentary sessions, trainers have been meeting journalists and content creators on the Internet to warn them, since nothing is worse than the resumption of false information by a real site.

At the European level, many tools have been deployed, assures Delphine Collard, deputy spokesperson for the Parliament. “We are the place in the world where the most measures have been taken, so that the person on their sofa, so that parents with their children watching social networks, are protected much better than anywhere else in the world” , she says, while reminding us that it is “a constant struggle”.

“We have to be aware that some are trying to muddy the waters and make them as dirty as possible.”

Delphine Collard, deputy spokesperson of the European Parliament

at franceinfo

“But we have to have confidence that our systems are also resilient and so are our media.” Media which must remain pluralistic, independent and solid in each Member State, because for Delphine Collard, these are the best antidotes to disinformation.