Statement of Dr. Martin Malek to the proclamation of the Worldwide Disinformation Awareness Day on November 27th

25.11.2021

 Disinformation is an important component of the hybrid warfare practised in particular by Vladimir Putin's Russia and Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus, which the EU and its member states still do far too little to counter. Of course, there are always two players in disinformation: those who want to disinform and those who allow themselves to be disinformed. 

It is important not to harbour any illusions: Disinformation serves to destabilise entire states and societies. It can hardly ever create contradictions from the scratch, but it can expand and deepen existing ones. The extent to which the plans of its initiators come to fruition also depends on the "target objects" of this disinformation. 

All the circumstances and problems associated with disinformation have become more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic that has held the world in its grip for almost two years. The "disinformers" themselves are never disturbed by obvious contradictions. Thus, in Russia, state media wages a "war" against homegrown vaccine skeptics. Margarita Simonyan, the pro-Putin editor-in-chief of Russia Today (RT), has raised questions about these individuals’ basic "cognitive abilities" and accused them of poisoning the nation’s solidarity. But in other countries than Russia, which are the main target of RT, it is constantly polemicising against vaccination. Why? Because it believes that by doing so, it can deepen the long-standing contradictions between supporters and sceptics of vaccination and turn as many people as possible against the government (completely independent of its partisan composition). According to RT's intention, pro-Russian parties on the fringes of the political spectrum should, in turn, benefit from the resulting political instability.

Also due to all these circumstances, the question whether it makes sense to add another one to all the previous events on disinformation is likely to be answered: Yes.