(by Alessandra Briganti)
Russia and China have assembled a
massive digital arsenal to manipulate information and pollute
the public debate in every corner of the world, according to a
new report by the European External Action Service (EEAS).
EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Kaja Kallas wrote that
disinformation has become "a geopolitical battlefield".
The third edition of the report said this battlefield is
dominated by a "strategic alignment" between Moscow and Beijing,
as seen by the map of Foreign Information Manipulation and
Interference (FIMI) threats.
The battlefield is global with over 500 FIMI incidents taking
place in 2024 across 90 different countries and 322
organisations, including the EU, NATO, the armed forces of some
Western States and media organs such as the BBC, Der Spiegel and
La Stampa.
For the second consecutive year, Ukraine was the main target of
Russian FIMI attacks with almost half of the incidents recorded.
Elections were a "key target" during the election super year,
when over half of the world's population voted, with "42 Russian
FIMIs registered during the June European elections".
Social media platforms continue to be a hotbed of FIMI activity,
with X accounting for "88% of the activity detected".
The experts said the use of artificial intelligence is
increasingly frequent in FIMIs.
"Its use makes it easier for the actors behind the threats to
perform or automate certain tasks, such as content creation, as
well as making them more cost-effective," they said.
That does not necessarily lead to these activities having a
greater impact.
"Last year, the EEAS recorded around 41 cases out of 505 in
which AI was used to manipulate information," the report said.
"The two main applications were the creation of unauthentic
content, such as deepfake audio and videos, and large-scale
automated dissemination through BOT networks".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
