More than 750 examples of disinformation and manipulation, mainly by Russia, were detected by EU experts between December 2022 and November last year. According to a report prepared by the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic service, Poland is one of the countries where the most cases of such attacks were detected.

The most frequently attacked country was Ukraine. Manipulation and disinformation activities were mainly concerned with justifying the Russian attack on the country. European Union experts recorded 160 such attacks against Ukraine. The next countries on the list were United States – 58, Poland – 33, Germany – 31, France – 25 and Serbia – 23.

As the EU’s head of diplomacy Josep Borrell stressed in his introduction to the report, disinformation and manipulation efforts often take advantage of already existing attention around important events, such as elections.

“2024 is a critical year for democracy. Around two billion people worldwide will be taking part in elections, including the European Parliament in June 2024”, Borrell recalled.

As for Poland, attacks of Russian manipulation and disinformation have intensified ahead of the 2023 parliamentary elections. They include the publication of photos or news to discredit candidates, explosions at polling stations to sow fear and discourage voting. Before the elections, the regime’s Belarusian media were also involved in the manipulation and disinformation campaign.

The report states that a few months before the Polish parliamentary elections, Belarusian state media created Polish-language social media channels targeting voters in Poland with daily content attacking candidates using, among other things, “old videos in a new context”.

Adrian Andrzejewski